The London Borough of Lambeth ( 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 Wandsworths 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."London Government: The London Boroughs", Ministry of Housing and Local Government, HMSO, 1962. See in particular paragraphs 51-57.

Geography

Lambeth is a long, thin borough (approximately wide and 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 United Kingdom Census 2001 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. 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

Despite the Boroughs 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 Greater London Council headquarters of County Hall, London and the Royal Festival Hall and Royal 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). Image:SunlightLaundryLambeth.JPG Image:London Eye Twilight April 2006.jpg 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 Image:St john divine kennington tower.jpg The The Oval and its neighbouring gas holders are known throughout the world due to television coverage of Test matches.

Arts

* South London Theatre a busy community theatre in the South of the borough

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 Cabinet-style council chaired by council leader Cllr Steve Reed (Lambeth Councillor) All members of the Cabinet are from the ruling Labour Party UK 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 town twinning 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

In 1979 the administration of Edward "Red Ted" Knight organised the borough’s first public demonstration against the Thatcher governmenthttp://briandeer.com/kate-hoey.htm. 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 rate-capping rebellion 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 lt;ref>http://briandeer.com/kate-hoey.htm. 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 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-red-teds-loony-lefties-1593657.html. Joans equily militant deputy leader in this eara was John Harrison (Lambeth) lt;ref>www.glatuc.org.uk/news_gn.php. Since 2002, the Council has had 63 members elected in 21 three-member wards - Bishop's ward Brixton Hill ward Clapham Common ward Clapham Town ward Coldharbour (Lambeth ward) Ferndale (Lambeth ward) Gipsy Hill ward Herne Hill ward Knight's Hill Larkhall, lambeth Oval ward Prince's ward St Leonard's ward Stockwell ward Streatham Hill ward Streatham South ward Streatham Wells ward Thornton ward Thurlow Park ward Tulse Hill ward Vassall ward 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: | border1 cellpadding2 cellspacing0 style"margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%; clear:both" | | Overall control | [[Labour Party UK|Labour]] | [[Liberal Democrats|Lib Dem]] | [[Conservative Party UK|Conservative]] | Others |- | 2010 | style"background:#cc0000; color:white" | Labour | 44 | 15 | 4 | - |- | 2006 | style"background:#cc0000; color:white" | Labour | 39 | 17 | 6 | 1 |- | 2002 | style"background:yellow; color:black" | Lib Dem/Conservative Coalition | 28 | 28 | 7 | - |- | 1998 | style"background:#cc0000; color:white" | Labour | 41 | 18 | 5 | - |- | 1994 | style"background:gray; color:white" | No overall control | 24 | 24 | 16 | - |- | 1990 | style"background:#cc0000; color:white" | Labour | 40 | 4 | 20 | - |- | 1986 | style"background:#cc0000; color:white" | Labour | 40 | 3 | 21 | - |- | 1982 | style"background:gray; color:white" | No overall control | 32 | 5 | 27 | - |- | 1978 | style"background:#cc0000; color:white" | Labour | 42 | - | 22 | - |- | 1974 | style"background:#cc0000; color:white" | Labour | 46 | - | 14 | - |- | 1971 | style"background:#cc0000; color:white" | Labour | 51 | - | 9 | - |- | 1968 | style"background:#3333cc; color:white" | Conservative | 3 | - | 57 | - |- | 1964 | style"background:#cc0000; color:white" | 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,http://www.lambethconservatives.com/2009/10/betty-evans-jacas/ Labour Councillor takes Conservative Whip in Lambeth]

Westminster Parliament

The borough is covered by three parliamentary constituencies * Dulwich and West Norwood (UK Parliament constituency) (shared with London Borough of Southwark * Streatham (UK Parliament constituency) * Vauxhall (UK Parliament constituency)

Transport

Bridges and tunnels

Image:Hungerford Bridge, River Thames, London, England.jpg Image:Waterloo from London Eye.jpg ]] Image:Stockwell deep level shelter entrance.jpg *Waterloo Bridge incorporating the National Film Theatre *Hungerford Bridge and the two accompanying pedestrian spans known as the Golden Jubilee Bridges *Lambeth Bridge *Westminster Bridge *Vauxhall Bridge

Railway stations

*Brixton railway station *Clapham High Street railway station *Gipsy Hill railway station *Herne Hill railway station *Loughborough Junction railway station *Streatham railway station *Streatham Common railway station *Streatham Hill railway station *Tulse Hill railway station *Vauxhall station *Waterloo station *Wandsworth Road railway station *West Norwood railway station *Eastfields railway station

Lambeth areas

*Brixton *Clapham *Crystal Palace, London *Gipsy Hill *Herne Hill *Kennington *Lambeth *Loughborough Junction *Oval, London and The Oval *Stockwell *Streatham *Streatham Hill *Eastfields *Tulse Hill *Vauxhall *Waterloo Road, London *West Dulwich *West Norwood

Tube stations

*Brixton tube station *Clapham Common tube station *Clapham North tube station *Clapham South tube station *Lambeth North tube station *Oval tube station *Stockwell tube station *Vauxhall station *Waterloo station

Individuals associated with Lambeth

*Diane Abbott (politician, television personality) *Jeffrey Archer (politician, author) *Jonathan Bartley (media commentator and activist) *Linda Bellos (politician) *William Blake *Paul Boateng (politician and former civil rights lawyer) *John Bostock (footballer) *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 comedy *Keith Hill (politician) (politician) *Kate Hoey (politician) *Eddie Izzard (alternative comedy *Basement Jaxx (dance music act) *Tessa Jowell (politician) *Ken Livingstone (politician) *John Major (former Prime Minister) *Paul Merton (alternative comedy *Roger Moore (actor) *John R. Pinniger (former councillor) *John Scarlett (head of MI6 *Henry Tate (sugar refiner and benefactor) *Sir Arthur Sullivan (Musician | composer | librettist *Scott Parker (footballer) (footballer) *Kieran Gibbs (footballer) *Michael Thomas (former footballer) *Gianluca Eusepi (business man) (artist) *Mackintosh Muggleton (actor) *Paulo Roberto Assis do Nascimiento Rosario Falcausinho Ribeiro Cerezinho "o Porchettaro", "te possino ammazza" Amedinho (brazilian footballer)

External links

* http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/ Lambeth.gov.uk] London Borough of Lambeth Official Website * http://www.mayoroflambeth.com Mayor of Lambeth] Mayor of Lambeth Official Website * http://www.electionmemory.com/ electionmemory.com] Independent Lambeth Council Elections Forum * http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/Environment/ParksGreenSpaces/Parks.htm General information on Lambeth parks and green spaces] * http://www.lambethcpcg.org.uk/ Community Police Consultative Group for Lambeth] Independent forum for community and statutory agencies to address community safety and policing issues. * http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclelambeth/ Lambeth Freecycle] Category:London boroughs Category:Local authorities adjoining the River Thames Category:London Borough of Lambeth Category:Articles including recorded pronunciations (UK English) ca:Lambeth (districte) cs:Lambeth (londýnský obvod) cy:Lambeth (Bwrdeistref Llundain) da:Lambeth (distrikt) de:London Borough of Lambeth eu:Lambeth fr:Lambeth (district londonien) ga:Buirg Londan Lambeth hi:लैम्बेथ बरो is:Lambeth (borgarhluti) it:Lambeth he:למבת' (רובע) lv:Lambeta nl:Lambeth (district) no:Lambeth (distrikt) nn:London Borough of Lambeth pl:Lambeth pt:Lambeth ro:Lambeth (burg) simple:London Borough of Lambeth sr:Лондонска општина Ламбет fi:Lambeth sv:London Borough of Lambeth yi:לאנדאנער בארא פון לאמבעט zh:蘭貝斯區