Ceety o Wastmeenster

The **Ceety o Wastmeenster** () is a Lunnon burgh occupyin hintle o the central aurie o Lunnon, Ingland, includin maist of the Wast End. It is locatit tae the wast o an adjoinin the auncient Ceety o Lunnon, directly tae the east o the Ryal Burgh o Kensington an Chelsea, an its soothren bundary is the River Thames. It is an Inner Lunnon borough an wis creatit in 1965 when Greater Lunnon wis established. At its creation Wastmeenster wis awairdit ceety status, which haed been previously held bi the smawer Metropolitan Burgh o Wastmeenster. Aside frae a nummer o lairge pairks an open spaces, the population density o the destrict is heich. Mony steids commonly associatit wi Lunnon are locatit in the borough, includin Buckingham Palace, the Hooses o Parliament, an 10 Downing Street. The ceety is dividit intae a nummer o localities includin the auncient poleetical destrict o Wastmeenster aroond the Palace o Wastmeenster; the shoppin auries aroond Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly an Bond Street; an the nicht time entertainment destrict o Soho. Hintle o the ceety is residential, an in 2008 it wis estimatit tae hae a population o 236,000. The local authority is Wastmeenster Ceety Cooncil.

## History
In 1965 the Ceety o Wastmeenster wis creatit frae the umwhile aurie o the metropolitan burghs o St Marylebone, Paddington, an the smawer Metropolitan Burgh o Wastmeenster. The earlier Wastmeenster metropolitan burgh wis itsel the result o an amalgamation in 1900.

## Demography
Accordin tae the 2001 census, the ceety haed a population o 181,279. Wastmeenster Ceety Cooncil unnerteuk several studies, supportit bi baith poleetical pairties on the cooncil, that indicatit that this figur wis too law. The Office for National Statistics eventually addit 17,500 fowk tae Wastmeenster's population, increasin its grant frae the Breetish govrenment. The offeecial population is nou 198,779, but some estimates put it at 220,000. Approximately 71% o the population is White (Breetish: 49.0%, Erse: 2.0%, an Ither White: 19.0%), 16% are o ony Asie ethnicity, 7% Black, 6% Mixed, an 4% belang tae ither racial groups. Aboot 35% o hoosehaulds are occupeed bi thair awners.

## Governance
The ceety is dividit intae 20 wards, each electin 3 cooncillors. Wastmeenster Ceety Cooncil is currently componed o 48 Conservative Pairty members an 12 Labour Pairty members.

## Destricts
The Ceety o Wastmeenster covers aw or pairt o the follaein auries o Lunnon:

* Bayswater
* Belgravia *(an aa pairtly in the [[Ryal Burgh o Kensington an Chelsea]])*
* Covent Garden *(an aa pairtly in the [[Lunnon Burgh o Camden]])*
* Fitzrovia *(an aa pairtly in the [[Lunnon Burgh o Camden]])*
* Hyde Park
* Knightsbridge *(an aa pairtly in the [[Ryal Burgh o Kensington an Chelsea]])*
* Lisson Grove
* Maida Vale
* Mayfair
* Marylebone
* Millbank
* Paddington
* Pimlico
* Queen's Park
* St James's
* St John's Wood
* Soho, includin Cheenaetoun
* The Temple (pairt o)
* "Theatreland"
* Victoria
* Westbourne Green
* Wast End
* Wastmeenster Ceety Centre


## Economy
The Ceety o Wastmeenster is hame tae a lairge nummer o companies. Mony leadin global corporations hae chosen tae locate thair global or European heidquarters in the Ceety o Wastmeenster. Mayfair an St. James's athin the Ceety o Wastmeenster an aw hae a lairge concentration o hedge fund an private equity funds. The Wast End is kent as the Theatre Destrict an is hame tae mony o the leadin performin airts businesses. Soho an its adjoinin auries hoose a concentration o media an creative companies. Oxford Street is ane o the leadin shoppin destinations in the warld. The leet o companies includes

*BAE Systems haes its heid office in Wastmeenster
*BBC haes its heid office in the Broadcasting House
*BP haes its global heidquarters in St. James's, Wastmeenster.
*Pearson PLC an subsidiary Penguin Group: heidquartered in a facility in Wastmeenster.
*Rio Tinto Group, a multinaitional Australie-Breetish company, haes its UK heid office in Wastmeenster.
*Economist Group, publisher o *[[The Economist]]* an ither materials, is heidquartered in Wastmeenster.
*Kingfisher plc haes its heid office in Paddington, Westminster
*SABMiller haes its heid office in Wastmeenster.
*British American Tobacco haes its heid office in the Globe House in the Ceety o Wastmeenster.
*Marks & Spencer haes its heid office in the Waterside House.
*Swire Group haes its heid office in the Swire House
*Pret a Manger haes its heid office in Wastmeenster.
*Rolls-Royce Group haes its heid office in Wastmeenster.
*Global Infrastructure Partners haes an office in Wastmeenster.
*EasyGroup haes its heid office in Mayfair, Ceety o Wastmeenster.
*Gulf Oil International haes its heid office in the ceety.
*AstraZeneca haes its heid office in Wastmeenster.
* Informa haes its Lunnon office, includin its Investor Relations an Media Centre departments, in the Informa House
* Petrofac possesses an office on Jermyn Street, near Oxford Circus.
*Northrop Grumman haes its UK offices in Clareville House.
*Korean Air haes its European heid office in the Ceety o Wastmeenster.
* Iraqi Airways haes its Lunnon sales office in the IKB House in Ceety o Wastmeenster.

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Lunnon is locatit in Wastmeenster.

Companies that previously haed thair heid offices in the Ceety o Wastmeenster include British Aircraft Corporation, British Midland (Portland House), British United Airways, British Mediterranean Airways, Cadbury, Diageo, BAA Limited, Lloyd International Airways, an P&O Princess Cruises.

## Laundmerks

Wastmeenster contains mony o the maist famous steids in Lunnon.  Some o the popular tourist steids are Buckingham Palace, Palace o Wastmeenster (Hooses o Parliament) an Big Ben an nearbi Wastmeenster Abbey.

### Pairks an open spaces

Thir include Green Park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent's Park an St. James's Park. In addition tae pairks an open spaces athin the burggh, the Ceety awns an maintains East Finchley Cemetery an crematorium in the Lunnon Burgh o Barnet.

## Transport
### Brigs
Thir include Chelsea Bridge, Hungerford Bridge, Grosvenor Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, Vauxhall Bridge, Waterloo Bridge an Westminster Bridge.

### National Rail stations
Stations include: Lunnon Charing Cross, Lunnon Marylebone, Lunnon Paddington an Lunnon Victoria thir are aw main Lunnon termini stations.

### London Underground
The Ceety o Wastmeenster is served bi 27 tube stations, an 10 o the 11 Unnergrund lines (the Waterloo an City line is the exception).

### Electric chairgin pynts
Wastmeenster Ceety Cooncil nou haes electric vehicle chairgin pynts in 15 locations throu the ceety (13 caur pairks an twa on-street pynts). Uisers pey an annual fee tae civer admeenistration costs tae register an uise the pynts.

### Road
Motorcyclists are subject tae a motorcycle pairkin chairge that haes caused protest in the borough.

## Education

Westminster Childer's Services operates mony community primary and seicontar schuils. In addition, several voluntary-aidit Kirk o Ingland (CE), Roman Catholic (RC), an Christian non-denominational (ND) schuils are in the ceety.

### Varsities an colleges

*Strand campus o King's College London.
*University of the Arts London steid the London College of Fashion on Davies Street.
*London Business School is locatit in Regent's Park.
*London School of Economics is locatit near Aldwych.
*School of Advanced Study is locatit near Russell Square.
*Royal Academy of Music is locatit on Marylebone Road.
*University of the Arts London haes constituent colleges in Holborn (CSM) and Millbank (Chelsea).
*University of Westminster is locatit on three campuses in the borough.
*Brigham Young University London Centre is locatit on Palace Court.
*The northren hauf o Imperial College London's main South Kensington campus lees athin the borough.
*City of Westminster College is a further education college wi campuses on Paddington Green an at Queens Park. It an aa awns the Cockpit Theatre, which is uised as a trainin an performance venue.
*Regent's College, whose campus is athin the grunds o Regent's Park, which hooses: European Business School London; Regent's American College London; Regent's Business School; School of Psychotherapy and Counselling; Webster Graduate School; Internexus, a provider o Inglis leid courses.
*Westminster Kingsway College is a further education college wi centres in Soho an Victoria in Wastmeenster. It an aa haes centres in Camden.

### Public libraries

The London Library, an independent lendin leebrar, is locatit at 14 St. James Square in the Ceety o Wastmeenster.

The ceety operates ane reference leebrar, the Westminster Reference Library. City-operated public lending libraries in Westminster include the Charing Cross Library, the Kirk Street Library, the Maida Vale Library, the Marylebone Library, the Mayfair Library, the Paddington Library, the Pimlico Library, the Queen's Park Library, St. James's Library, St. John's Wood Library, an the Victoria Library. In addition the ceety haes twa specialist libraries, the Westminster Music Library, the lairgest muisic leebrar in the Unitit Kinrick, an the Westminster Cheenese Library in the Charing Cross Library.

## Banksy an offeecial policy towards graffiti

In Apryle 2008 the street airtist Banksy creatit a wirk "One Nation Under CCTV" on the side o the Newman Street Royal Mail biggin in Soho, apparently accomplished bi erectin scaffauldin owernicht unner the direct observation o a CCTV camera. The wirk wis describit bi the *[[Daily Mail]]* as "his biggest wirk yet in central Lunnon". Wastmeenster Ceety Cooncil statit in October 2008 that the wirk wad be paintit ower as it is graffiti. The cooncil explained that it wad remuive ony graffiti, regairdless o the reputation o its creautor, an specifically statit that Banksy "haes nae mair richt tae paint graffiti than a child". Robert Davis, the chairman o the cooncil plannin committee tauld *[[The Times]]* newspaper: "If we condone this then we might as well say that any kid with a spray can is producing art". The wirk wis paintit ower in Aprile 2009.

## Internaitional relations
### Twin Touns - Sister Ceeties
*  Sylhet, Bangladesh

## Gallery

Image:Gurkha Soldier Monument, London - April 2008.jpg|Statue o a Gurkha in Ceety o Wastmeenster
Image:Whitehall Street Traffic.jpg|Double-decker buses frame a busy Whitehall wi Big Ben in the backgrund.
Image:Buckingham Palace, London, England, 24Jan04.jpg|Buckingham Palace an the Victoria Memorial
Image:WestminsterCathedralFull.jpg|Westminster Cathedral
Image:Nelson On His Column - Trafalgar Square - London - 240404.jpg|Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square
Image:Piccadilly.jpg|The Shaftesbury Memorial in Piccadilly Circus
Image:Hungerford Bridge, River Thames, London, England.jpg|Hungerford Bridges, seen frae the north
Image:St james park east.jpg|St. James's Park Lake, leukin east, wi the London Eye in the background
Image:St martin in the fields exterior.jpg|St Martin-in-the-Fields
Image:Chinatown.london.700px.jpg|Cheenaetoun in 2004.


## See an aa

* London Underground
* River Thames
* River Westbourne
* Wast End o Lunnon

## References

## Freemit airtins
* Ceety o Wastmeenster
* Nutsville's topical news page on Wastmeenster Cooncil 
* Westminster, bi Sir Walter Besant an Geraldine Edith Mitton an A. Murray Smith, 1902, frae Project Gutenberg

### Video clips
* Wastmeenster Ceety Cooncil YouTube channel