Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

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Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Shown within Greater London Geography Status London borough Royal Borough Area — Total Ranked 325th 37.25 km² ONS code 00AX Demographics Population: - Total () - Density Ranked {{EnglishDistrictRank / km² Ethnicity 84.5% White 7.8% South Asian 1.6% Afro-Caribbean 1.4% Chinese Politics Kingston London Borough Council http://www.kingston.gov.uk/ Leadership Leader & Executive Mayor — Executive MPs Edward Davey Susan Kramer London Assembly — Member South West London Tony Arbour

Arms of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a London borough in south-west London. The main town in the borough is Kingston upon Thames, but it coveres a wider area also including places such as Surbiton, Chessington, New Malden and Tolworth.

Districts in the Royal Borough

• Berrylands
• Chessington
• Coombe
• Kingston upon Thames
• Kingston Vale
• Malden Rushett
• Motspur Park
• New Malden
• Norbiton
• Old Malden
• Surbiton
• Tolworth

History

Kingston was famous in antiquity for being the coronation place of seven Anglo-Saxon monarchs, listed below

Name	Year
Edward the Elder, (son of Alfred the Great)	900
Athelstan	925
Edmund I	939
Eadred	946
Eadwig	956
Edward the Martyr	975
Ethelred the Unready	979

Kingston still has a monument, the Coronation Stone, on which the monarchs were said to have actually been crowned. A coin from the reign of each of the monarchs listed is set into the base of the stone, which now stands outside the local council offices, the Guildhall.

Sopwith Aviation Company had a factory in the Canbury Park area of Kingston, where the famous Sopwith Camel was produced during World War I.

N.B the hawker hurricane was designed upon a site in kingston town centre and built in the aviation factory in Ham now known as the Hawker Centre

Politics

The current borough was formed in 1965 as a merger of the previous Municipal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (which had the title of a Royal Borough) with the Municipal Borough of Malden and Coombe and the Municipal Borough of Surbiton which were transferred from Surrey to Greater London. It contains all of the Kingston and Surbiton Westminster Parliamentary Constituency and part of the Richmond Park Constituency.

Traditionally a Conservative area, the Borough Council was controlled by the the Conservatve Party from 1965 until 1986, when a Liberal/SDP Alliance minority administration briefly took control at the Guildhall. This administration was shortlived, foundering amid controversy over its attempt to abolish the Borough's Grammar School system. After a number of byelection losses, the Conservatives regained control of the Council, narrowly retaining control at the subsequent Borough elections in 1990 on the casting vote of the Mayor.

In 1994 the Liberal Democrats gained majority control of the Council for the first time and in 1997, gained both Parliamentary seats. With Dr Jenny Tonge gaining Richmond Park constituency and Edward Davey, the victorious Liberal Democrat candidate for Kingston and Surbiton where he overturned a large Conservative majority to take the seat by the wafer thin margin of 56 votes after 3 recounts. Edward Davey retained his seat at the 2001 with a majority of over 15,000 and 2005 General Elections. Richmond Park also remained in Liberal Democrat hands, although in 2005, Dr Jenny Tonge stood down and was replaced by Susan Kramer.

Despite the Parliamentary breakthrough in 1997, the following year the Liberal Democrats lost their majority on the Council and a minority Conservative administration was formed. At the 2002 elections, the Lib Dems once again took control of the Council, this time with a substantial majority. They narrowly retained control at the May 2006 local elections with a significantly reduced majority, only securing control with the shock loss of the Conservative group leader's seat. Interestingly this is the first time any political party has retained control of the council since 1982.

The current state of the parties on the Council is:

Liberal Democrat 25

Conservative 21

Labour 2

The Leader of the Council and Executive is Cllr Derek Osbourne.

Modern Kingston

The most famous shop in Kingston is Bentalls, started by Frank Bentall in 1867 in Clarence Street, where it (or least the completely rebuilt Bentalls Centre) stands to this day.

Close to Kingston , and located between Kingston, Richmond and Roehampton, is Richmond Park, one of the old Royal parks.

See also

• Kingston parks and open spaces

Greater London | London | City of London 

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