London Borough of Brent


The London Borough of Brent is a London borough in North-west London; it forms part of Outer London. The major areas are Wembley, Kilburn, Willesden, Harlesden and Neasden.
It borders the boroughs of Harrow to the northwest, Barnet to the northeast, Camden to the east, the City of Westminster to the southeast, as well as the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and Ealing to the south. Most of the eastern border is formed by the Roman road Watling Street, which is now the modern A5. Brent has a mixture of residential, industrial and commercial land. Brent is home to Wembley Stadium, one of the country's biggest landmarks, as well as Wembley Arena. The local authority is Brent London Borough Council.

History

Brent was formed in 1965 from the area of the former Municipal Borough of Wembley and Municipal Borough of Willesden of Middlesex. Its name derives from the River Brent which runs through the borough.

Politics and local government

Wards

Brent is divided into 21 electoral wards. Some wards share a name with the traditional areas above, others include Mapesbury and Welsh Harp.
The borough includes three parliamentary constituencies: Brent North, Brent Central and Hampstead and Kilburn, which includes part of the London Borough of Camden. Before the 2010 United Kingdom general election it was divided into three constituencies contained wholly within the borough - Brent South, Brent East and Brent North.

Politics

is elected every four years, with currently 63 councillors being elected at each election. While the Labour Party has been the largest single party on the council for about half its history and the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have each been the largest party at other times, there have been several periods when no party has had overall control. Labour regained control in 2010 and increased their majority at the 2014 election and 2018 election. As of the 2018 election the council is composed of the following councillors:
The Leader of the Council is Labour Councillor Muhammed Butt.

Demographics

In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 2,022. This rose slowly throughout the nineteenth century, as the district became built up; reaching 5,646 in the middle of the century. When the railways arrived the rate of population growth increased. The population peaked in the 1960s, when industry began to relocate from London.
Brent is among the most diverse localities in the country, with large Asian and Indian, Black African, Black Caribbean, Irish, and Eastern European communities. 45 percent of the population was of minority ethnic in the 1991 census, which was the highest rate in England at the time.
The 2001 UK Census revealed that the borough had a population of 263,464 – of whom 127,806 were male, and 135,658 female. Of those stating a choice, 47.71% described themselves as Christian, 17.71% as Hindu, 12.26% as Muslim and 10% as having no religion. Of the population, 39.96% were in full-time employment and 7.86% in part-time employment – compared to a London average of 42.64% and 8.62%, respectively. Residents were predominantly owner-occupiers, with 23.17% owning their house outright, and a further 31.33% owning with a mortgage. 10.59% were in local authority housing, with a further 13.29% renting from a housing association, or other registered social landlord.
The borough of Brent is extremely ethnically diverse. In the 2011 census, those who identified as White British made up 18% of the borough's population. 18% identified as other White, 5% were of mixed heritage, those of South Asian heritage comprised about 33%, those of African and Caribbean heritage about 19%, and other ethnic groups about 7%. Whites were found in highest proportion in the wards of Mapesbury, Brondesbury Park, Queen's Park and Kilburn. Black people in highest proportion were found in Stonebridge, Harlesden and Kensal Green wards. Asians are centred in the wards of Alperton, Wembley Central and Kenton. Those who ethnically identify as BAME was as high as 86% in Wembley Central - one of the highest in London - and most other Brent wards have a majority BAME population. Queen's Park had the lowest BAME proportion, at 37.0%.
Brent has the highest proportion of Irish residents in Britain, with 4% of the population. It also has one of the largest Brazilian communities in the UK; one of the largest Indian communities; a significant Afro-Caribbean community; and more recent Romanian and Polish communities.

Religion

As of 2011, 41.5% identified themselves as Christian, 18.6% Muslim, 17.8% Hindu and 10.6% with no religion. Brent is notably home of the Neasden Temple, once the largest Hindu Mandir outside India; and JFS, the largest Jewish school in Europe. There is also an Islamic school called Islamia Primary School founded by Cat Stevens.

Health

In the House of Commons survey of Female Genital Mutilation, at 1250 Brent had the highest number of attendees to medical services.
In 2019, BBC reported that Brent had among highest rates of tuberculosis in the UK at 107 per population according to WHO figures from 2013.

Ethnicity

The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 census in Brent.

Geography

Major districts of Brent include:Kilburn, Willesden and Wembley.

Climate

Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is ""..

Economy

has its head office in Park Royal and in the London Borough of Brent, on a former Guinness brewery property. The brewery was closed in 2004; it had produced beer since 1936. Diageo planned to move its head office to Brent from Central London when the lease on the Central London office expired in 2010.
Brent is the joint fourth-worst Borough in London for levels of child poverty. Save the Children reported in 2011 that 11,000 children are impoverished.

Amenities and culture

Education

Compulsory recycling

Recycling has been compulsory in the borough of Brent since 2008. Through a green box collection scheme the borough aims to improve on the 25 per cent recycled waste it already achieves.

London Fire Brigade

The London Borough of Brent has three fire stations within the borough: Park Royal, Wembley and Willesden. Brent has a mixture of residential, industrial and commercial land. Most notably, Wembley National Stadium is within the area - on match days the safety of over 90,000 people is the responsibility of the London Fire Brigade. Wembley covers the largest area in the borough,. Two pumping appliances, a fire rescue unit and an aerial ladder platform are based there. Willesden, for its relatively small, in comparison to Wembley, station ground, responded to over a thousand incidents in 2006/2007. Two pumping appliances reside there. Park Royal, with its one pumping appliance and an incident response unit, has one of the smallest station grounds; just.
Within the borough, 4,105 incidents occurred in 2006/2007.

Transport

Like most of northwest London, Brent is served extensively by the London Underground. A total of 21 tube stations are located in Brent, all served by either the Metropolitan, Jubilee, Bakerloo or Piccadilly Lines. All of them are surface level, with the exception of Kilburn Park tube station in the southeast of the borough. This total is actually the second highest out of all London boroughs, being second only to Westminster, which has 32 stations within its boundaries. The numerous London Underground, London Overground and National Rail stations in the borough are:
In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were :
The Borough has three Non-League football clubs:
Brent is twinned with:
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Brent.

Individuals