London Borough of Lambeth

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Geography
London Borough of Lambeth
Shown within Greater London
Status	London borough
Area — Total	Ranked 341st 26.82 km²
ONS code	00AY
Admin HQ	Brixton
Demographics
Population — Total (2005 est.) — Density	Ranked 30th (of 354) 269,100 10,034 / km²
Ethnicity	62.4% White 25.8% Afro-Caribbean 4.8% Mixed Race 4.6% South Asian 1.3% Chinese
Politics
Leadership	Leader & Cabinet
Mayor	Cllr Liz Atkinson
Executive	Labour
MPs	Keith Hill (Lab) Kate Hoey (Lab) Tessa Jowell (Lab)
London Assembly — Member	Lambeth and Southwark Valerie Shawcross (Lab)
Coat of Arms

Official website	http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/

The London Borough of Lambeth is a London borough in South London, England and forms part of Inner London.

[edit] History

The London Borough of Lambeth was formed in 1965 from the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth and part of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth containing Streatham and Clapham.

[edit] Geography

Lambeth is a long, thin borough (approximately 3 miles wide and 7 miles long). It has no one single "town centre" as such. Great variety exists in the districts. The largest shopping areas are (in order of size) Streatham, Brixton, Vauxhall and Clapham.

According to the 2001 census, Lambeth has a population of 266,169. 62% of the borough is White, 12% Black Caribbean and 12% Black African. 37% of householders are owner–occupiers. Lambeth has the highest population density of the Inner London boroughs.

In the northern end of the borough are the Central London districts of the South Bank and Lambeth which have a developing tourist economy while at the very south of the borough are the leafy suburbs of Gipsy Hill, Tulse Hill, West Dulwich and West Norwood. In between the two are built-up and inner-city districts of Brixton, Brixton Hill, Clapham, Clapham Park, Herne Hill, Stockwell and Kennington which are each at different stages of gentrification and have elements of suburban and urban settlement while Vauxhall and South Lambeth are central districts being redeveloped with high density business and residential properties. Streatham sits somewhere between suburban London and inner-city Brixton with the partly suburban and partly built-up areas of Streatham, Streatham Hill and Streatham Vale.

[edit] Parks and green spaces

Lambeth is responsible for 64 parks and green spaces, in addition to 34 play areas and eight paddling pools, within its boundaries. The largest of them include:

Agnes Riley Gardens, Atkins Road, SW12
Archbishops Park, Carlisle Lane, SE1, adjacent to Lambeth Palace
Brockwell Park, Norwood Road, SE24, includes Brockwell Lido (public swimming area)
Clapham Common, Windmill Drive, SW4, wholly maintained by Lambeth Borough, although the western half is situated in Wandsworth Borough
Hillside Gardens, Hillside Road, SW2
Kennington Park, Kennington Park Road, SE11, a wooded area, although it has sports facilities and gardens
Larkhall Park, Courland Grove, SW8
Max Roach Park, Brixton Road, SW9
Milkwood Community Park, Milkwood Road, SE24
Mostyn, Olive Morris and Dan Leno Gardens, Myatt's Fields North housing estate, Akerman Road, SW9
Myatt's Fields Park, Cormont Road, SE5
Norwood Park,Crystal Palace, Salters Hill, SE19
Rush Common, Brixton Hill, SW2
Ruskin Park, Denmark Hill, SE5
Spring Gardens, Tyers Street, SE11
Streatham Common, Streatham High Road, SW16
Streatham Vale Park, Abercairn Road, SW16
The Rookery, Covington Way, SW16, with formal gardens and an open air theatre
Vauxhall Park, Lawn Lane, SW8, near The Oval cricket ground

[edit] Landmarks

The London Eye

Along and around the South Bank a tourist area has developed around the former GLC headquarters of County Hall and the Royal Festival Hall and National Theatre. Also on the river is the London Eye and Hayward Gallery. Nearby and still in the north of the borough is St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth Palace and the Florence Nightingale Museum.

Prominant Church buildings: Trinty Rise, S.W.2 St Luke's, West Norwood Mass (formerly St Mathew's) Brixton All Saints' Rosendale Road

The London borough has a high population density but there are open spaces and outdoor attractions including Brockwell Lido, Brixton Market, Clapham Common and the Oval cricket ground. There is also the Museum of Garden History on the South Bank as well as Streatham Common and West Norwood Cemetery in the south of the borough.

[edit] Civic affairs

[edit] Mayor

The Mayor of Lambeth for 2006 is Cllr Liz Atkinson (Vassall ward). Lambeth is perhaps unusual in that since 1994 the Mayor is elected unanimously by their fellow councillors with each of the political parties supplying a candidate in rotation. This underlines the apolitical nature of the Mayor’s role and enables them to represent all the citizens of the borough.

[edit] Executive

The council is run by a Leader and Cabinet Executive, chaired by council leader Steve Reed. All members of the Executive are from the ruling Labour Party.

[edit] Coat of arms

The coat of arms is that of the former Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth with the addition of two gold stars to indicate Clapham and Streatham.

[edit] Twinning

The former Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth and its successor have been twinned with the Vincennes district of Paris in France since 1955. Lambeth also has twinning arrangements with Bluefields in Nicaragua; Moskvoretsky in Russia (although this is abeyance since changes to the city government of Moscow); Shinjuku in Japan; and Spanish Town in Jamaica.

[edit] Politics

[edit] Lambeth London Borough Council

Main article: Lambeth local elections

Summary of council election results:

	Overall control	Labour	Lib Dem	Conservative	Others
2006	Labour	39	17	6	1
2002	No overall control	28	28	7	-
1998	Labour	41	18	5	-
1994	No overall control	-	-	-	-
1990	Labour	-	-	-	-
1986	Labour	-	-	-	-
1982	No overall control	-	-	-	-
1978	Labour	-	-	-	-
1974	Labour	-	-	-	-
1971	Labour	-	-	-	-
1968	Conservative	-	-	-	-
1964	Labour	-	-	-	-

[edit] Westminster Parliament

The borough is covered by three parliamentary constituencies:

Dulwich and West Norwood (shared with London Borough of Southwark)
Streatham
Vauxhall

[edit] Transport

[edit] Bridges and tunnels

Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges, seen from the north

Waterloo station from the London Eye.

Stockwell war memorial and shelter

Stockwell

Waterloo Bridge incorperating the NFT
Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges
Lambeth Bridge
Westminster Bridge
Vauxhall Bridge

[edit] Railway stations

[edit] Lambeth areas

[edit] Tube stations

[edit] Individuals associated with Lambeth

Dianne Abbott or Diane Abbott (politician, television personality)
Jeffrey Archer (politician, author)
Linda Bellos (politician)
William Blake
Paul Boateng (politician and former civil rights lawyer)
David Bowie (musician and actor)
Charlie Chaplin (actor and director)
Naomi Campbell (former supermodel)
Dillinja (drum and bass DJ)
Jo Guest (page 3 model, television presenter)
Jeremy Hardy (alternative comedian)
Keith Hill (politician)
Kate Hoey (politician)
Eddie Izzard (alternative comedian)
Basement Jaxx (dance music act)
Tessa Jowell (politician)
Ken Livingstone (politician)
John Major (former Prime Minister)
Paul Merton (alternative comedian)
Roger Moore (actor)
John R. Pinniger (former councillor)
John Scarlett (head of MI6)
Henry Tate (sugar refiner and benefactor)

[edit] Christmas controversy

In November 2005, Lambeth London Borough Council became the centre of a controversy over the naming of the Christmas lights used in the annual festival "winter lights", and "Celebrity lights" [1]. This was interpreted by many as an overzealous attempt at political correctness, and was reported in several national newspapers, including the Daily Mail as an attempt to "ban Christmas". A spokesperson for the council, however, announced that "It was a junior-level decision and it happened to go into print which was an error."