London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is a London borough in West London and forms part of Inner London.

It 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 borough is known internationally for the 1908 Olympics, hosted in White City, and for being home to the main facilities of the BBC at BBC Television Centre.

Traversed by the A4 Great West Road and the A40 Westway, many corporations have offices in the borough, and a large development is underway at White City with new transport links and a large shopping mall.

Districts
The borough includes the areas:
 * Fulham
 * Hammersmith
 * Barons Court
 * Hurlingham
 * Old Oak Common
 * Parsons Green
 * Sands End
 * Shepherd's Bush
 * Walham Green
 * West Kensington
 * White City

Demographics of Hammersmith and Fulham
According to the 2001 census Hammersmith and Fulham has a population of 165,242. 58% of the borough 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 affluent as well as deprived neighbourhoods. The unemployment rate is only 5%, although of these, 29% were listed as long-term unemployed.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council
Hammersmith & Fulham is administered by 46 councillors. The Conservative Party currently holds a majority of 33 seats, thus forming the Administration. The Council leader is Cllr. Stephen Greenhalgh (Con).

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


 * Addison : Councillors Helen Binmore (Con), Belinda Donovan (Con), Peter Tobias (Con)


 * Askew : Councillors Gill Dickenson (Lab), Lisa Homan (Lab) Rory Vaughan (Lab),


 * Avonmore & Brook Green : Councillors Alexandra Robson (Con), Will Bethell (Con), Robert Iggulden (Con)


 * College Park & Old Oak : Councillors Wesley Harcourt (Lab), Reg McLaughlin (Lab)


 * Fulham Broadway : Councillors Aidan Burley (Con), Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler (Con), Rachel Ford (Con)


 * Fulham Reach : Councillors Gavin Donovan (Con), Paul Bristow (Con), Andrew Johnson (Con)


 * Hammersmith Broadway : Councillors Michael Cartwright (Lab), Stephen Cowan (Lab), Lisa Nandy (Lab)


 * Munster : Councillors Michael Adam (Con), Adronie Alford (Con), Alex Karmel (Con)


 * North End : Councillors Caroline Ffiske (Con), Sarah Gore (Con), Lucy Gugen (Con)


 * Palace Riverside : Councillors Donald Johnson (Con), Melanie Scott Russell (Con)


 * Parson's Green & Walham : Councillors Nicholas Botterill (Con), Frances Stainton (Con), Mark Loveday (Con)


 * Ravenscourt Park : Councillors Lucy Ivimy (Con), Harry Phibbs (Con), Eugenie White (Con)


 * Sands End : Councillors Steve Hamilton (Con), Jane Law (Con), Jeanette Bentley (Con)


 * Shepherd's Bush Green : Councillors Alexander Chalk (Con), Ed Owen (Lab), Mercy Umeh (Lab)


 * Town : Councillors Stephen Greenhalgh (Con), Greg Smith (Con), Antony Lillis (Con)


 * Wormholt & White City : Councillors Colin Aherne (Lab), Jean Campbell (Lab), Dame Sally Powell (Lab)

Sport in the borough
Considering its size, there are an extraordinary number of sporting successes based in the borough. They include:

Football clubs
Chelsea Football Club and Fulham Football Club are both based in the borough and play Premiership football. Queens Park Rangers currently play in the country's second level, the Championship, but still can contribute to the borough's claim of having three of the nation's top 44 football teams.

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

Much-travelled Wigan Athletic striker Marcus Bent was born in Hammersmith.

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

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

Fulham midfielder Lee Cook was born in Hammersmith in 1982.

Athletes
Linford Christie, Olympic gold medal winner at 100 metres, trained, lived and has a stadium named after him in the borough. He also attended Henry Compton School in Fulham.

Rowers
There are a huge number of rowing clubs in the borough, the most famous being Tideway Scullers. Many of Britain's top rowers throughout modern history have trained along the Thames, including Matthew Pinsent and Steve Redgrave who between them have 9 Olympic Gold Medals. Much of the course of the Boat Race is along Hammersmith and Fulham's southern border, on the River Thames.