Richmond Park

Richmond Park Borough constituency
Richmond Park shown within Greater London
Created:	1997
MP:	Zac Goldsmith
Party:	Conservative
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Greater London
EP constituency:	London

Richmond Park is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

History and character

Richmond Park constituency was created in 1997 from the old Richmond & Barnes constituency (held until then by the Conservative Jeremy Hanley) and the northern half of the Kingston upon Thames constituency (held by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont, also Conservative). Hanley was selected as the Conservative candidate to fight for the new seat, but he lost to Jenny Tonge (Liberal Democrat). The seat was held by the Liberal Democrats until 2010, when it was gained by Zac Goldsmith for the Conservatives.

The area is almost entirely affluent middle-class suburbia with plenty of leafy streets, and desirable late Victorian and Edwardian houses with large gardens. It has many pleasant open green spaces, including Richmond Park itself, the world famous botanic gardens at Kew, and the London Wetland Centre.

The northern parts of the constituency suffer from aircraft noise when aeroplanes are landing in a westerly direction at London Heathrow Airport.^[1]

Boundaries

Richmond Park constituency stretches from Barnes in the north to Kingston upon Thames in the south, and includes the whole of East Sheen, Mortlake, Kew, Richmond, Petersham and Ham. The boundaries also include the Royal Park that gives it its name.

From Richmond Bridge, the boundary runs north following middle of the River Thames to Hammersmith Bridge and then south as far as Barn Elms. From here it cuts away from the river to exclude Putney Common and houses east of Hallam Road and Dyers Lane. At the south end of Dyers Lane the boundary runs along the Upper Richmond Road westwards as far as the Beverley Brook which it then follows south to the northern wall of Richmond Park itself. This effectively excludes all of Roehampton, which is part of Putney. The boundary then follows the wall of the park as far as the Robin Hood Gate on the A3 road. Here it crosses the road and picks up the line of the Beverley Brook again south, until it crosses back under the A3 at Malden Golf Course. It then cuts across the golf course to Coombe Road, and follows this south to the main railway line from London Waterloo to Woking, at New Malden Station. West of the station the boundary turns north to follow the Kingston branch of the railway line, which it follows as far as the railway bridge over the Thames between Kingston and Hampton Wick. From here it runs north down the middle of the river back to Richmond Bridge.

This means that the constituency includes Coombe, Kingston Vale, Norbiton and all of Kingston upon Thames and most of New Malden north of the railway.^[2]

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London, the Boundary Commission for England has made only minor changes to the existing Richmond Park constituency, in line with changes in ward boundaries. The Commission received only eleven representations following the publication of the original proposals, of which ten were in support.^[3]

The boundary was revised very slightly for the 2010 election so that whole of the Beverly ward in New Malden was included in Kingston and Surbiton.^[4]

The electoral wards used in the constituency are:

• From Kingston upon Thames - Canbury; Coombe Hill; Coombe Vale; Tudor
• From Richmond upon Thames - Barnes; East Sheen; Ham, Petersham and Richmond Riverside; Kew; Mortlake and Barnes Common; North Richmond; South Richmond

Members of Parliament

Election results

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Notes and references

1. ^ Aircraft Noise
2. ^ For a detailed map see the UK government election map web site
3. ^ (1 pdf file)
4. ^ Fifth periodical report - Volume 3 Mapping for the London Boroughs and the Metropolitan Counties [1]
5. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 1)^{[self-published source?][better source needed]}
6. ^ http://www.richmond.gov.uk/rp_statement_persons_nominated.pdf
7. ^ "Election 2010-Constituency:Richmond Park". Election 2010 (BBC). 6 May 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/d70.stm. 

Coordinates: 51°26′49″N 0°16′41″W / 51.447°N 0.278°W / 51.447; -0.278