London Borough of Camden


The London Borough of Camden is a borough in Northwest London, and historically a part of Middlesex. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross.
Most of the borough is seen as part of Northwest London, but the borough’s southern areas of Bloomsbury and Holborn are sometimes described as part of the West End of London. The local authority is Camden London Borough Council.

History

The borough was created in 1965 from the former area of the metropolitan boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St Pancras, which had formed part of the County of London. The borough was named after Camden Town, which had gained its name from Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden in 1795. The transcribed diaries of William Copeland Astbury, recently made available, describe Camden and the surrounding areas in great detail from 1829–1848. Sir Jan inspired many of his art works in this area.
There are 162 English Heritage blue plaques in the borough of Camden representing the many diverse personalities that have lived there.

Districts and environs

The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the metropolitan boroughs of St Pancras, Hampstead and Holborn. The first two of these had their origins in medieval Ancient Parishes of the same name, while Holborn was formed by a union of much smaller units.
The southern part of the borough is in the Central Activities Zone including Holborn, Bloomsbury and King's Cross. The northern part of the borough includes the less densely developed areas of Hampstead, Hampstead Heath and Kentish Town. Neighbouring boroughs are the City of Westminster and the City of London to the south, Brent to the west of the originally Roman Watling Street, Barnet and Haringey to the north and Islington to the east. It covers all or part of the N1, N6, N7, N19, NW1, NW2, NW3, NW5, NW6, NW8, EC1, WC1, WC2, W1 and W9 postcode areas.

Politics

Camden London Borough Council

is located in Judd Street in St Pancras. Camden London Borough Council was controlled by the Labour Party continuously from 1971 until the 2006 election, when the Liberal Democrats became the largest party. In 2006, two Green Cllrs, Maya de Souza and Adrian Oliver, were elected and were the first Green Party councillors in Camden. In 1985 when the borough was rate-capped, the Labour leadership joined the rebellion in which it declared its inability to set a budget in an unsuccessful attempt to force the Government to allow higher spending. Camden was the fourth to last council to drop out of the campaign, doing so in the early hours of 6 June.
Borough councillors are elected every four years. Since May 2002 the electoral wards in Camden are Belsize, Bloomsbury, Camden Town with Primrose Hill, Cantelowes, Fortune Green, Frognal and Fitzjohns, Gospel Oak, Hampstead Town, Haverstock, Highgate, Holborn and Covent Garden, Kentish Town, Kilburn, King's Cross, Regent's Park, St Pancras and Somers Town, Swiss Cottage and West Hampstead.
Between 2006 and 2010 Labour lost two seats to the Liberal Democrats through by-elections, in Kentish Town and Haverstock wards. A Labour Councillor in Haverstock ward also defected to the Liberal Democrats in February 2009. The Conservatives also lost two seats, one to the Liberal Democrats in Hampstead, and one to the Green Party, Alexander Goodman, in Highgate, taking the total number of Green Party Councillors to three. At the local elections on 6 May 2010 the Labour party regained full control of Camden council.
The organisation's staff are led by the Chief Executive who is currently Mike Cooke. The organisation is divided into five directorates:
The directorates are headed by a director who reports directly to the Chief Executive. Each directorate is divided into a number of divisions headed by an assistant director. They, in turn, are divided into groups which are themselves divided into services. This is a similar model to most local government in London.

London Assembly

Camden forms part of the Barnet and Camden London Assembly constituency, represented by Andrew Dismore of the Labour Party

UK Parliament

There are two parliamentary constituencies covering Camden: Hampstead and Kilburn in the north, represented by Labour's Tulip Siddiq, and Holborn and St. Pancras in the south, represented by Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party.

Demographics

In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough were already developed and had a total population of 96,795. This continued to rise swiftly throughout the 19th century as the district became built up, reaching 270,197 in the middle of the century. When the railways arrived the rate of population growth slowed, for while many people were drawn in by new employment, others were made homeless by the new central London termini and construction of lines through the district. The population peaked at 376,500 in the 1890s, after which official efforts began to clear the overcrowded slums around St Pancras and Holborn.
After World War II, further suburban public housing was built to rehouse the many Londoners made homeless in the Blitz, and there was an exodus from London towards the new towns under the Abercrombie Plan for London. As industry declined during the 1970s the population continued to decline, falling to 161,100 at the start of the 1980s. It has now begun to rise again with new housing developments on brownfield sites and the release of railway and gas work lands around Kings Cross. A 2017 study found that the eviction rate of 6 per 1,000 renting households in Camden is the lowest rate in London.
The 2001 census gave Camden a population of 198,000, an undercount that was later revised to 202,600. The projected 2006 figure is 227,500.
On 20 May 1999, the Camden New Journal newspaper documented 'Two Camdens' syndrome as a high-profile phenomenon differentiating the characteristics of education services in its constituencies. In 2006, Dame Julia Neuberger's book reported similar variation as a characteristic of Camden's children's health services. Her insider's view was corroboration – in addition to the 2001 "Inequalities" report by Director of Public Health Dr. Maggie Barker of "stark contrasts in" health and education opportunities – of earlier similar Audit Commission findings and a verification/update of the 1999 CNJ report.
The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 census in Camden.

Ethnicity

Major public or private bodies

has its head office in the borough. Atlantic Books has its headquarters in the borough. Previously Forte Group had its head office in the borough.
Camden has the seventh largest economy in the UK.

Attractions

British Museum
British Library

Education

The London Borough of Camden is the local education authority for the borough, organised through the Children, Schools and Families directorate.

Transport

There are no motorways in the borough, and few stretches of dual carriageway road, but the borough has great strategic transport significance to London, due to presence of three of the capital's most important rail termini, which are lined up along the Euston Road.

Rail

National Rail

Three of the fourteen central London's railway terminals are located in the borough., St Pancras and Kings Cross are the London termini for the West Coast, Midland and East Coast Main Lines and also High Speed 1. This connects the borough with the East of England, East Midlands, West Midlands, North East & West England, North Wales, Scotland, South East England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Since 14 November 2007 when St Pancras International became the new terminus of Eurostar, a major regeneration of the area has occurred with the King's Cross Central development happening behind the station.
London Overground's North London Line services run through the borough serving,,,, and. London Overground also operates the Watford DC Line services from Euston serving, trains continue to Watford in Hertfordshire.
Thameslink route services serve, Kentish Town and stations. Currently the Thameslink network is undergoing a major expansion project called the Thameslink Programme. This will link more places in Southern England to the borough and to the East of England. While some services on the Great Northern network, which currently terminate at King's Cross will be diverted onto the Thameslink network, all work is due to be complete by 2016.

Underground

The three major rail termini are served by two underground stations, and the combined station. Between them, the termini are served by the Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines. The Central and Jubilee lines serve other parts of the borough, as will the new Elizabeth Line, when opened.
As well as the two major termini stations, the borough's other stations are:,,, Tottenham Court Road,,,,,,,,,,, and.

Future

The proposed High Speed 2 railway line to northern England is intended to terminate at Euston Station.
The proposed Crossrail 2 line, would serve Euston and Tottenham Court Road underground stations. The increase in passengers at Euston as a result of the proposed High Speed 2 services is a major driver of the proposals.
The formerly proposed Cross River Tram was going to start in the borough of Camden but was scrapped by the Mayor of London in 2008.

Buses

All bus services are operated by Transport for London. Buses serve every suburb in the borough.

Statistics

The 2011 census found that the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: underground, metro, light rail, tram, 21.5% of all residents aged 16–74; on foot, 9.2%; bus, minibus or coach, 9.2%; driving a car or van, 6.3%; work mainly at or from home, 5.2%; train, 4.1%; bicycle, 4.1%.
The census also found that 61% of households had no car, 32% had one car and 7% of households had 2 or more cars. There were an estimated 46,000 cars belonging to Camden residents.

Speed limit

From 16 December 2013, Camden Council introduced a borough-wide speed limit of, except on Transport for London red routes. This is to make roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

Police

Camden is policed by the Metropolitan Police Service. There are two police stations across the borough, situated at Holborn and Kentish Town. There are various other contact points around the borough including West Hampstead, Greenland Road, Highgate Road, Station House, West End Lane, Old Hampstead Town Hall and Kingsway College. All locations have varying opening hours with Kentish Town Police Station open to the public on a 24-hour basis.
Hampstead Heath, situated within the London Borough of Camden and managed by the City of London Corporation, has its own Constabulary who deal with everyday incidents on the Heath, however, all serious criminal offences are passed to the Metropolitan Police to investigate.
With a large London Underground network and major railway stations such as King's Cross, St Pancras and Euston, Camden also has a much larger presence of British Transport Police than many other London boroughs. BTP are responsible for policing Great Britain's railway network.

London Fire Brigade

The area has four fire stations: Belsize, Euston, Kentish Town and West Hampstead) and they are operated by London Fire Brigade in the borough of Camden. None of these fire stations are home to any specialist units; only pumping appliances and a rescue tender.