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London Borough of Lambeth

Coordinates: 51°25′N 0°08′W / 51.417°N 0.133°W / 51.417; -0.133
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Template:Infobox London Borough

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

History

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.[1]

Geography

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. It also has a high unemployment rate and crime levels are also high. It has the highest number of homicides in any of the London boroughs.[citation needed]

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.

Parks and green spaces

Main article: Lambeth parks and open spaces

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.

Landmarks

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).

The Sunlight Laundry
The London Eye

Prominent Church buildings include:

  • St Mary Lambeth (now home to the Museum of Garden History)
  • the four "Waterloo Churches" within the former Lambeth Parish:
    • St Matthew, Brixton (now also home to Mass nightclub)
    • St Mark, Kennington
    • St Luke, West Norwood
    • St John, Waterloo
  • Holy Trinity, Clapham
  • St Leonard, Streatham
  • Christ Church, Streatham Hill
  • Christ Church, North Brixton
  • All Saints' Church, West Dulwich
  • Holy Trinity, Trinity Rise, Tulse Hill
  • St John the Divine, Vassall Road
St John the Divine, on Vassall Road, SW9

The Oval cricket ground and its neighbouring gas holders are known throughout the world due to television coverage of Test matches.

Arts

Civic affairs

Mayor

The Mayor of Lambeth for the municipal year 2009-2010 is Cllr Christopher Wellbelove (Clapham Town ward). Lambeth is perhaps 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.

Executive and Opposition

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.

Coat of arms

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.

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); Brooklyn, New York in the United States; Shinjuku in Japan; and Spanish Town in Jamaica.

Politics

Lambeth London Borough Council

Main article: Lambeth local elections

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.

Since 2002, the Council has had 63 members elected in 21 three-member wards - 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. 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.


Summary of council election results:

Overall control Labour Lib Dem Conservative Others
2010 Labour 44 15 4 -
2006 Labour 39 17 6 1
2002 Lib Dem/Conservative Coalition 28 28 7 -
1998 Labour 41 18 5 -
1994 No overall control 24 24 16 -
1990 Labour 40 4 20 -
1986 Labour 40 3 21 -
1982 No overall control 32 5 27 -
1978 Labour 42 - 22 -
1974 Labour 46 - 14 -
1971 Labour 51 - 9 -
1968 Conservative 3 - 57 -
1964 Labour 42 - 18 -

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. This was the result of a 2008 by-election in Vassall Ward won by the Liberal Democrats and the 2009 decision by Cllr Betty Evans-Jacas to take the Conservative whip,[2]

Westminster Parliament

The borough is covered by three parliamentary constituencies:

Transport

Bridges and tunnels

Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges, seen from the north
Waterloo station from the London Eye.
Stockwell war memorial and shelter

Railway stations

Lambeth areas

Tube stations

Individuals associated with Lambeth

  1. ^ "London Government: The London Boroughs", Ministry of Housing and Local Government, HMSO, 1962. See in particular paragraphs 51-57.
  2. ^ Labour Councillor takes Conservative Whip in Lambeth

51°25′N 0°08′W / 51.417°N 0.133°W / 51.417; -0.133

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