| London Borough of Lambeth | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — London borough — | |||
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| Lambeth shown within Greater London | |||
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom | ||
| Constituent country | England | ||
| Region | London | ||
| Ceremonial county | Greater London | ||
| Status | London borough | ||
| Admin HQ | Brixton | ||
| Incorporated | 1 April 1965 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Type | London borough council | ||
| • Body | Lambeth London Borough Council | ||
| • Leadership | Leader & Cabinet (Labour) | ||
| • Mayor | Cllr Christopher Wellbelove | ||
| • MPs | Kate Hoey (Lab) Tessa Jowell (Lab) Chuka Umunna (Lab) |
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| • London Assembly | Valerie Shawcross (Lab) AM for Lambeth and Southwark | ||
| • EU Parliament | London | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 10.4 sq mi (26.82 km2) | ||
| Area rank | 313th (of 326) | ||
| Population (2010 est.) | |||
| • Total | 284,500 | ||
| • Rank | 35th (of 326) | ||
| • Density | 27,474/sq mi (10,607.8/km2) | ||
| • Ethnicity[1] | 54.0% White British 2.7% White Irish 9.0% Other White 1.8% White & Black Caribbean 0.7% White & Black African 0.9% White & Asian 1.2% Other Mixed 2.3% Indian 1.1% Pakistani 1.0% Bangladeshi 0.9% Other Asian 10.2% Black Caribbean 9.6% Black African 1.8% Other Black 1.3% Chinese 1.3% Other |
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| Time zone | GMT (UTC0) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | BST (UTC+1) | ||
| Postcodes | {{{postcode_areas}}} | ||
| Police force | Metropolitan Police | ||
| Website | www.lambeth.gov.uk | ||
The London Borough of Lambeth () is a London borough in south London, England and forms part of Inner London. The local authority is Lambeth London Borough Council.
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When drawing up boundaries for the London Boroughs, the Government had initially suggested that Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth and the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark should be merged to form a new borough, with the southern and eastern section of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth (including Clapham, Streatham and Tooting) forming another. The Town Clerk of South Shields, R.S. Young was commissioned to make final recommendations to the Government on the shape of the future London boroughs, and he noted that Wandsworth council opposed partition of their borough. However Wandsworth's suggestion of merging Lambeth with the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea was rejected by both of the councils involved. Young held that in Clapham and Streatham, people must be more familiar with Brixton than with Wandsworth, and therefore recommended that a new borough be formed from the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth together with six wards and parts of two others from the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth.[2]
In 1979 the administration of Edward "Red Ted" Knight organised the borough’s first public demonstration against the Thatcher government.[3] In 1985, the left-wing Labour administration of Ted Knight was subjected to 'rate-capping' with its budget restricted by the Government. Knight and most of the Labour councillors protested by refusing to set any budget. This protest resulted in 32 councillors being ordered to repay to the council the interest the council had lost as a result of budgeting delays, and also being disqualified from office.
1991 saw Joan Twelves’s regime both failed to collect the poll tax and openly opposed the war in the Persian Gulf.[4] Joan Twelves, and 12 other councillors were subsequently suspended from the labour party’s local group by regional officials for advocating non- payment of the poll tax and other radical ideas in 1992.[5] Joan's equally militant deputy leader in this era was John Harrison.[6]
Between 1978 and 2002, the council comprised 64 members elected in 20 three-member and 2 two-member wards. Prior to this, the council had 60 members elected in 20 three-member wards. Immediately prior to the 2010 election, the political balance of the council was 37 Labour members, 18 Liberal Democrats, 7 Conservatives and 1 Green, giving a Labour majority of eleven. At the 2010 Lambeth Council election Labour gained seats and the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Green party lost seats.
Lambeth is a long, thin borough (approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) wide and 7 miles (11 km) long). Brixton is the civic centre of the borough and there are other town centres. The largest shopping areas are (in order of size) Streatham, Brixton, Vauxhall, Clapham and West Norwood.
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, Streatham 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.
Despite the Borough's high population density, it contains some open spaces of Metropolitan importance including Brockwell Park and Brockwell Lido, Streatham Common, half of Clapham Common, and West Norwood Cemetery.
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, to the east of which is the Oxo Tower wharf and adjacent areas redeveloped by the Coin Street Community Builders. Nearby and also in the north of the borough is St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth Palace and the Florence Nightingale Museum.
A prominent landmark in the middle of the borough is the Art Deco Sunlight Laundry on Acre Lane SW2. Near this is Brixton, home to Lambeth Town Hall and to the Brixton Murals, although one of these is actually in Stockwell (see picture below).
Prominent Church buildings include:
The Oval cricket ground and its neighbouring gas holders are known throughout the world due to television coverage of Test matches.
Lambeth is also the birth place of famous talent scout Simon Cowell.
Since 2002, Lambeth Borough Council has had 63 members elected in 21 three-member wards, by means of a plurality bloc voting system. Since 7 May 2010 Labour hold 44 seats, the Liberal Democrats 15 and the Conservative Party 4 seats.
The wards are Bishop's, Brixton Hill, Clapham Common, Clapham Town, Coldharbour, Ferndale, Gipsy Hill, Herne Hill, Knight's Hill, Larkhall, Oval, Prince's, Saint Leonard's, Stockwell, Streatham Hill, Streatham South, Streatham Wells, Thornton, Thurlow Park, Tulse Hill, Vassall.
Lambeth is unusual in that since 1994 the mayor is elected unanimously by their fellow councillors with each of the three political parties supplying a candidate in rotation. The Lambeth Borough website states this underlines the apolitical nature of the mayor’s role and enables them to represent all the citizens of the borough however some have criticised this arrangement as the council ignoring the political mandate of the voters.
The council is run by a Leader and Cabinet, chaired by council leader Cllr Steve Reed. All members of the Cabinet are from the ruling Labour Party. The Leader of the Opposition is Cllr Ashley Lumsden (Liberal Democrat) and the Leader of the Conservative Opposition is Cllr John Whelan. The Chief Executive is Derrick Anderson CBE, formerly Chief Executive at Wolverhampton Council.
The coat of arms is that of the former Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth with the addition of two gold stars (mullets) in the second and third quarters of the shield to indicate the addition of the parishes of Clapham and Streatham. The motto is Spectemur Agendo.
The borough is covered by three parliamentary constituencies:
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); Brooklyn, New York in the United States; Shinjuku in Japan; and Spanish Town in Jamaica.
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