London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Information & London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Links at HealthHaven.com

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
	London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
	; Shown within Greater London
Geography
Status	London borough
Area; — Total	Ranked 262nd; 57.41 km2 (22.2 sq mi)
ONS code	00BD
Admin HQ	Twickenham
Demographics
Population; — Total (2008 est.); — Density	Ranked 93rd (of 326); 180,100; 3,137 /km2 (8,125 /sq mi)
Ethnicity; White British; White Irish; Other White; White & Black Caribbean; White & Black African; White & Asian; Other Mixed; Indian; Pakistani; Bangladeshi; Other Asian; Black Caribbean; Black African; Other Black; Chinese; Other	(2005 estimates); 75.7%; 2.6%; 10.6%; 0.5%; 0.3%; 1.0%; 0.7%; 2.8%; 0.7%; 0.4%; 0.8%; 0.8%; 0.7%; 0.2%; 0.9%; 1.3%
Politics
	Richmond London Borough Council
Leadership	Leader & Cabinet Cllr Serge Lourie
Mayor	Cllr Marc Cranfield-Adams
Executive	Liberal Democrat
MPs	Vincent Cable; Susan Kramer
London Assembly; — Member	South West; Tony Arbour
Coat of Arms
Official website	http://www.richmond.gov.uk/

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a London borough in south west London, England, which forms part of Outer London.

[edit] Settlement

It can been seen from a map that the borough is not entirely urbanised - there are some large areas of open space within the borough boundaries, including the largest urban park in Europe, Richmond Park. The borough is residential and home to some of the most affluent districts of London such as Barnes, Richmond and East Sheen. The main suburban developments are Hampton and Teddington in the south, Twickenham, St Margarets and Whitton in the central area west of the River Thames, with the more central districts of Richmond, Kew, Mortlake and Barnes following the loop of the river. It is the only London borough to straddle the Thames with districts on both sides of the river.

[edit] List of districts

[edit] Attractions, parks and open spaces

Main article: Richmond upon Thames parks and open spaces

Hampton Court Palace

A view from Richmond Hill over the Terraced Gardens.

Parks take up a great deal of the borough and include Richmond Park, Bushy Park, Kew Gardens, and Hampton Court Park. There are over 100 parks and open spaces within its boundary and 21 miles (34 km) of river frontage - five times more green and open space than any other London borough.

The borough is also home to the National Physical Laboratory and the attractions of Hampton Court Palace, Twickenham Stadium and the WWT London Wetlands Centre draw both domestic and international tourism.

In December 2006, Sport England published a survey which revealed that residents of the Richmond upon Thames were the 2nd most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 29.8% of the population participate at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes.^[2]

[edit] History

The borough was formed in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Twickenham from Middlesex with the Municipal Borough of Richmond and the Municipal Borough of Barnes from Surrey; council offices were centred at York House in Twickenham. The name 'Richmond upon Thames' was coined at that time; it is now commonly but inaccurately used to refer to Richmond only.

The borough is twinned with Konstanz in Germany, Fontainebleau in France and Richmond, Virginia, USA.

[edit] Politics

	Overall control	Conservative	Lib Dem	Labour	Others
2006	Liberal Democrat	19	35	-	-
2002	Conservative	39	15	-	-
1998	Liberal Democrat	14	34	4	-
1994	Liberal Democrat	7	43	2	-
1990	Liberal Democrat	4	48	-	-
1986	Liberal/SDP Alliance	3	49	-	-
1982	Conservative (minority)	26	26	-	-
1978	Conservative	34	18	-	-
1974	Conservative	36	10	8	-
1971	Conservative	37	3	14	-
1968	Conservative	54	-	-	-
1964	Conservative	41	-	12	1