London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

{{ Infobox London Borough | name = London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham | short_name = Hammersmith and Fulham | imagename = LondonHammersmithFulham.png | status = London borough | area_rank = 350th | area_km2 = 16.40 | ons_code = 00AN | adminhq = King Street, Hammersmith | ethnicity = 78.0% White58.0% British 20.0% Non-British 11.1% African-Caribbean4.4% South Asian | url = http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/ | leadership = Leader & Cabinet | mayor = Andrew Johnson | mps = Greg Hands (Con) Andrew Slaughter (Lab) | gla_constituency = West Central London | gla_member = Kit Malthouse (Con) }}

The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London, and forms part of Inner London. Traversed by the east-west main roads of the A4 Great West Road and the A40 Westway, many international corporations have offices in the borough.

History

The borough was formed in 1965 by merging the Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith and the Metropolitan Borough of Fulham. It was known as the 'London Borough of Hammersmith' until its name was changed on 1 January 1979 by the borough council. The two had been joined together previously as the Fulham District from 1855 to 1886.

In 1908, the Franco-British Exhibition and Olympic Games were hosted in the borough, at White City, but the site then took many decades to be redeveloped. In 1960, the BBC opened the BBC Television Centre, and in 2008, Westfield London, a large development with new transport links and a shopping centre, finally completed the redevelopment after one hundred years.

Districts

The borough includes the areas:

Brook Green

College Park

East Acton

Fulham

Hammersmith

Hurlingham

Old Oak Common

Parsons Green

Sands End

Shepherd's Bush

Walham Green

West Kensington

White City

:see also parks and open spaces in Hammersmith and Fulham

Demographics

According to the 2001 census Hammersmith and Fulham has a population of 165,242. 60% of the borough's population is White British, 20% white non-British (among which are large Polish and Irish communities), 5% black Caribbean, 5% black African with various other ethnicities (including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese) making up the remaining 11 percent.

The borough has the second-highest proportion of single adults of any borough in England and Wales (55%), and a higher than average for the London area of young adults aged 20–29 (24%).

Forty-four percent of households are owner–occupiers, and 22% of households were listed as "other" - that is, not single persons living alone or families. These are generally two or more unrelated adults living together, such as students or cohabiting couples.

The borough comprises a patchwork of extremely affluent as well as deprived neighbourhoods; The areas of Brackenbury Village, Brook Green, and the Riverside compose of highly expensive Victorian and Edwardian houses, contrasting to the areas of White City and Shepherds Bush, which, though also containing gentrified areas, have a more diverse and edgy backdrop. The unemployment rate is below 5%, although of these, 29% were listed as long-term unemployed.

See external links below for more census information from the borough.

Economy

Virgin Group operates its headquarters at The School House, 50 Brook Green. Sony Ericsson has its headquarters in the borough.

All Nippon Airways operates an office on the fourth floor of Hythe House at 200 Shepherds Bush Road. South African Airways has its United Kingdom office in the South African Airways House.

For a 15-year period Air France had its UK and Ireland office in Hammersmith. In 2006 the UK and Ireland office was moved to Hatton Cross, London Borough of Hounslow.

Politics

Hammersmith & Fulham is administered by 46 councillors. At the 2010 council elections held on 6 May, the Conservative Party lost 2 seats but won a majority by taking a total of 31 seats. The present administration was first elected at the 2006 council election. The Council leader is Cllr. Stephen Greenhalgh (Con). The Labour Party forms the opposition on the Council, with 15 seats, led by Cllr. Stephen Cowan.

The borough is divided into 16 electoral wards, all bar two electing three councillors apiece. These are:

Addison

Askew

Avonmore & Brook Green

College Park & Old Oak

Fulham Broadway

Fulham Reach

Hammersmith Broadway

Munster

North End

Palace Riverside

Parson's Green & Walham

Ravenscourt Park

Sands End

Shepherd's Bush Green

Town

Wormholt & White City :

The Conservative administration introduced a number of changes to the running of the council following their election in 2006, including a 3% per year cut in Council Tax in each year between 2007/8 and 2010/1. This worked out at a average reduction of £26.30 per year for that period. The Conservative administration privitised many front line services including refuse collection and parks maintenance. It provided funding for a 24 hour police team in Shepherds Bush Green ward. The Council received the Local Government Chronicle award for "Council of the Year" in 2010. The authority has repeatedly been described as a "flagship" Conservative borough and a favourite of Tory Prime Minister David Cameron. Between 2005 and 2008, the Audit Commission found that services improved from an overall rating of three stars and "improving well" to four stars and "improving strongly". According to the government 2009 Place Survey, the Council was rated as the sixth most popular major authority in the country.

On 21 January 2010 the Borough was found guilty of maladministration by the Local Government Ombudsman. The Ombudsman concluded that a woman was due compensation after Hammersmith and Fulham had refused to provide accommodation for her despite being pregnant and seeking escape from domestic violence. The woman who was later discovered seeking shelter in a local park. Prior to this incident the Council had sold off twelve homeless hostels, tightened homeless acceptance criteria and banned the BBC and Crisis from running a Christmas homeless shelter. In June 2010 the Borough removed all funding from Threshold Housing Advice who are the homeless charity that reported the council to the Local Government Ombudsman and brought about the Maladministration ruling. This forced Threshold Housing Advice to close down in November 2010.

The opposition Labour Party and media critics, such as Johann Hari in the Independent 5 May 2010, have criticised the Council for cuts to front line services and the introduction of new or increased stealth taxes. These include the new £12.40 per hour home care charge for the elderly, sick and disabled, a nearly £600 increase (over the four-year period) in fees for meals on wheels; a 50% increase in parking fines and 55% increase in parking tickets. The Conservative Administration are also criticized for initially cutting police numbers in 3 of the 16 wards; renting out parks for exclusive private events and selling off the borough's buildings such as librarys, schools, council homes, community centres, Sure Start centres, early learning centres and youth clubs.

During the 2010 general and local elections the Conservative administration was accused by Labour opponents, the media and residents of intending to demolish 3,300 Council homes leaving many people with no option but to move out of the borough - an allegation described by the Prime Minister as "appalling Labour lies" in the Daily Telegraph, 22 May 2010. Stephen Cowan (Lab), the Council’s Leader of the Opposition strongly disputed this allegation and wrote to the Prime Minister challenging his comments and detailing why he was wrong to make them.

Hammersmith and Fulham’s alleged housing plans have been covered by the UK media notably in this video made by the Guardian Newspaper, 9 October 2009. Housing issues in Hammersmith and Fulham gained greater publicity after Cllr Greenhalgh co-authored the Localism policy paper Principles of Social Housing Reform in 2009 which called for a move to “near market rents” and an end to life long secure tenancies for council housing tenants. The Coalition Government has now begun to consult on these policies and has released Local Decisions: A Fairer Future for Social Housing for consultation and following this they will most likely soon be presented to Parliament in a housing bill.

Former councillors for Hammersmith and Fulham who are current Members of Parliament include Dominic Grieve MP (Con), Aidan Burley MP (Con), Greg Hands MP (Con), Lisa Nandy MP (Lab), Andrew Robotham MP (Con) and Andrew Slaughter MP (Lab).

Sport

There are a number of sporting teams and players based in the borough. They include:

Football

Chelsea Football Club, Fulham Football Club and Queens Park Rangers are all based in the borough and play Premier League football. The borough can therefore claim to be home to three of the top twenty teams in English football.

Footballers:

Ex-Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Manchester City and England international defender Stuart Pearce was born in Shepherd's Bush.

Much-travelled Queens Park Rangers striker Marcus Bent was born in Hammersmith.

Sean Davis plays currently for Bolton Wanderers and was capped for England under-21s, he is one of the few players in history to play for the same club in all 4 divisions of the English football league for Fulham.

Tony Bedeau of Torquay United and Walsall was born in Hammersmith in 1979.

Queens Park Rangers midfielder Lee Cook was born in Hammersmith in 1982.

Rugby

Hammersmith & Fulham RFC have been playing in the borough at Hurlingham Park for over 30 years. They boast four senior men’s sides and one Ladies XV. The men’s 1st XV currently compete in London's NE2 League with the remainder of the sides participating in the Middlesex Merit Tables.

Boxing

Joe Calzaghe was born in Hammersmith in 1972.

Frank Bruno was born in Hammersmith in 1961.

Rowing

Lower Mall was home to a large number of rowing clubs at the end of the 19th Century, of which there are now only a few survivors. The headquarters of the national governing body, the Amateur Rowing Association, is also on Lower Mall, in a building, The Priory, which used to be occupied by rowing clubs.

The first half of the Boat Race course is along Hammersmith and Fulham's southern border, on the River Thames.

"Culture" Studio 106 Art Gallery holds regular exhibitions and workshops.

Education

Public libraries in the borough include Askew Road Library, Barons Court Library, Fulham Library, Hammersmith Library, Sands End Library, and Shepherds Bush Library.

The borough is also home to two prestigious independent girls' schools - St Paul's Girls' School in Brook Green (often ranked in first place in the country in league tables, with nearly 50% of each year group gaining entry to Oxbridge), and the Godolphin and Latymer School, situated a few minutes' walk from Hammersmith Broadway.

Latymer Upper, a mixed school, is also in the borough, on King Street.

The exclusive independent girls' preparatory school Bute House is also in Brook Green.

See also

Hammersmith and Fulham parks and open spaces

The "Hammersmith Apollo"

Hammersmith and Fulham (UK Parliament constituency)

References

External links

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham official website

Cllr. Stephen Cowan (Lab) - Leader of the Opposition

Local Conservative Party

Local Labour Party

Greg Hands MP (Con) - for Chelsea and Fulham

Andy Slaughter MP (Lab) for Hammersmith

The Bush Theatre

Riverside Studios

The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre

Local Listings Magazine

Open data about Hammersmith & Fulham from OpenlyLocal

W14london - online community site for W14 & SW6

Hammersmith and Fulham Hammersmith and Fulham Category:Articles including recorded pronunciations (UK English) Category:1965 establishments in the United Kingdom