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It is the largest of the 32 boroughs.

London Borough of Bromley
London borough
Coat of arms Council logo
Bromley shown within Greater London
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	London
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Created	1 April 1965
Admin HQ	Stockwell Close, Bromley
Government
• Type	London borough council
• Body	Bromley London Borough Council
• Leadership	Leader & Cabinet (Conservative)
• Mayor	Cllr Kim Botting FRSA
• London Assembly	Gareth Bacon (Conservative) AM for Bexley and Bromley
• MPs	Jo Johnson (Conservative) Bob Stewart (Conservative) Bob Neill (Conservative) Ellie Reeves (Labour)
• EU Parliament	London
Area
• Total	150.15 km2 (57.97 sq mi)
Area rank	188th (of 326)
Population (mid-2017 est.)
• Total	329,400
• Rank	23rd (of 326)
• Density	2,200/km2 (5,700/sq mi)
• Ethnicity[1]	77.4% White British 1.4% White Irish 0.2% White Gypsy or Irish Traveller 5.3% Other White 1.3% White & Black Caribbean 0.4% White & Black African 1% White & Asian 0.9% Other Mixed 2% Indian 0.3% Pakistani 0.4% Bangladeshi 0.9% Chinese 1.6% Other Asian 3.2% Black African 2.1% Black Caribbean 0.7% Other Black 0.3% Arab 0.6% Other
Time zone	UTC (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcodes	BR, CR, DA, SE, TN
Area code(s)	01689, 01959, 020
ONS code	00AF
GSS code	E09000006
Police	Metropolitan Police
Website	http://www.bromley.gov.uk/

The London Borough of Bromley /ˈbrɒmli/ (listen) is one of the 32 London boroughs that, along with the City of London, make up Greater London. The London Borough of Bromley is south of the River Thames which flows through London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. The borough is named after Bromley, its principal town. The local authority is Bromley London Borough Council.^{[n 1]}

Geography

The borough is the largest in Greater London by area and occupies 59 square miles (153 km²). The majority of the borough is Metropolitan Green Belt, including nearly all of the land south of the A232-A21 route between West Wickham and Pratts Bottom.^[2] Consequently, it is also perhaps the most rural borough and contains more of the North Downs than any other, as that escarpment is broad between Bromley and Banstead.

Most of the population lives in the north and west of the borough, with an outlier at Biggin Hill in the far south. The borough shares borders with the London Boroughs of Lewisham and Greenwich to the North, Bexley to the North East, Southwark and Lambeth to the North West, as well as Croydon to the West. It also borders the Sevenoaks District of Kent to the East and South, and the Tandridge District of Surrey to the South West.

Westerham Heights, the highest point in London at an altitude of 804 feet (245 m), is on the southern boundary. The Prime Meridian passes through Bromley.

About 30% of the land in Bromley is farmland, the highest figure of a London Borough.^[3]

History

The borough was formed, as were all other London boroughs, on 1 April 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It comprised the former area of the Municipal Borough of Bromley, the Municipal Borough of Beckenham, Penge Urban District, Orpington Urban District and the Chislehurst part of Chislehurst and Sidcup Urban District, which was transferred from Kent to Greater London.

In 1969, after a local campaign, the village of Knockholt was transferred back to Kent to become part of the Sevenoaks Rural District and later Sevenoaks District. Before 1965 it had been part of the Orpington Urban District.

Districts

Sundridge Park

The borough is partly urban and partly rural, the former to the north and very much part of the built-up area of suburban London.

The principal parts of the northern section, from west to east, are Beckenham, which includes Eden Park and Elmers End; Bromley with Bickley, Bromley Park and Bromley Common, Park Langley, Plaistow, Shortlands, and Southborough; Chislehurst, with Elmstead and Sundridge. The built-up area around Orpington not only encompasses its direct outskirts of Chelsfield, Crofton, Derry Downs, Goddington, Kevingtown, and Petts Wood; it also includes the erstwhile separate settlements of Farnborough, Green Street Green, Pratts Bottom, St Mary Cray and St Paul's Cray. Other smaller suburban areas include Anerley and nearby Crystal Palace; and Penge. In addition, parts of Mottingham, Sydenham, Swanley and Ruxley lie within the borough boundaries.

There are two main built-up areas in the southern part of the borough: Hayes and West Wickham. Biggin Hill, Downe and Keston with Leaves Green and Nash are separate, smaller, rural settlements.

Local attractions include Down House (the home of Charles Darwin), Chislehurst Caves, Holwood House (the home of William Pitt the Younger), Crofton Roman Villa, and the site of The Crystal Palace.

Governance

The 22 wards of the London Borough of Bromley (orange) and the surrounding London boroughs (yellow) and districts outside Greater London (grey)

Bromley is divided into 22 wards with a total of 60 council seats. These are currently represented by:^[4]

• 
  Conservative: 50


• 
  Labour: 8


• Independents: 2

Bromley was under Conservative control from its creation until the local elections of 7 May 1998 when a Liberal Democrat/Labour coalition assumed power. After a number of by-elections and a defection, the Conservatives regained control on 5 July 2001.

The 22 wards are shown on the accompanying map. Ward names often straddle the named settlements and suburban areas above: their boundaries are fixed, whereas the latter are not.

Demographics

In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 8,944. This rose slowly throughout the nineteenth century, as the district became built up; reaching 17,192 in the middle of the century. When the railways arrived, the rate of population growth increased. The population peaked in the 1970s, when industry began to relocate from London.

In the 2011 UK Census, the borough had a population of 309,392. All major religions are represented, but of those stating a choice, 60.07% described themselves as Christian. In 2001, of the population, 43.47% were in full-time employment and 11.06% in part-time employment – compared to a London average of 42.64% and 8.62%, respectively. Residents were predominantly owner-occupiers, with 32.53% owning their house outright, and a further 42.73% owning with a mortgage. Only 1.42% were in local authority housing, with a further 12.74% renting from a housing association, or other registered social landlord.^[5]

A study in 2017 showed that Bromley had the second lowest poverty rate (15%) of any London borough.^[6]

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

Ethnicity

Education

Transport

Bromley is one of only six London Boroughs^[9] not to have at least one London Underground station within its boundaries. However, the borough has many railway stations served by London Overground, Thameslink, Southeastern and Southern. The borough also has several stops on the Tramlink network. It was also reported^{[citation needed]} that Boris Johnson plans to introduce either an extension of the Bakerloo Line to Hayes, in Bromley, passing through Beckenham Junction, or an extension of the DLR to Bromley North. One last option is the extension of the London Overground to Bromley North. The most likely is the extension of the Bakerloo Line, but would not be scheduled to begin till 2040, if accepted.

National Rail stations:

• Crystal Palace


• Birkbeck


• Beckenham Junction


• Shortlands


• Bromley North


• Bromley South


• St Mary Cray


• Sundridge Park


• Ravensbourne


• Bickley


• Elmstead Woods


• Chislehurst


• Petts Wood


• Orpington


• Chelsfield


• Knockholt


• Kent House


• Penge East


• Penge West


• Anerley


• 
  Lower Sydenham (Shared with Lewisham)


• New Beckenham


• Clock House


• Elmers End


• Eden Park


• West Wickham


• Hayes

Tramlink stops:

• Beckenham Junction


• Beckenham Road


• Avenue Road


• Birkbeck


• Elmers End

In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: driving a car or van, 27.4% of all residents aged 16–74; train, 5.1%; bus, minibus or coach, 5.1%; on foot, 4.3%; work mainly at or from home, 4.0%; underground, metro, light rail, tram, 2.3%; passenger in a car or van, 1.5%.^[10]

Sport, leisure and culture

The Borough has several sporting clubs:

• 
  Bromley F.C. a Non-League football club


• 
  Cray Wanderers F.C. a Non-League football club


• 
  Orpington F.C. a Non-League football club


• 
  Holmesdale F.C. a Non-League football club


• 
  Greenwich Borough F.C. a Non-League football club


• 
  Beckenham Town F.C. a Non-League football club


• Club Langley FC a Non-League football club

The borough is also home to an extensive libraries service, containing 14 branches^[11] that are all part of the wider London Libraries Consortium.

The Beckenham Comedy Cabaret,^[12] a monthly comedy cabaret event, hosted and run by Jody Kamali, has been running in the heart of Beckenham since 2015, usually on the last Friday evening of the month.

London Fire Brigade

London Fire Brigade has four fire stations within the London Borough of Bromley. The borough is the largest in the city: about 150 km². With just one pumping appliance, Orpington has one of the largest areas to cover in London, measuring 46.7 km². In 2006/2007, Orpington attended 1,308 incidents. There is also a high volume pump at the station. Beckenham, Bromley and Biggin Hill cover the rest of the borough with four pumping appliances and a hose layer.^[13]

In 2006/2007 just under 4000 incidents were attended in the borough. Noticeably, compared to 2005/2006 there was an 11% decrease in special service calls (road traffic collisions, chemical incidents, flooding etc.).^[13]

Twin Towns

Bromley is twinned with:

• 
  Neuwied, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

See also

• Bromley parks and open spaces

References

References

Notes

External links

• Summary of formation of the Borough, including its constituent parts


• London Borough of Bromley council website


• London Borough of Bromley Museum


• Council for Voluntary Service for the London Borough of Bromley


• Directory of local services


• Images of Bromley


• Bromley Neighbourhood Watch Association website (BromleyNWA.org.uk)

Coordinates: 51°20′N 0°05′E / 51.333°N 0.083°E / 51.333; 0.083