Orpington (UK Parliament constituency)

History

Orpington was created in a major boundary review enacted at the 1945 general election, which followed an absence of reviews since 1918. The seats of Dartford and Chislehurst had both seen their electorate grow enormously into newly built houses since the 1918 review and were treated as one and reformed into four seats, creating the additional seats of Bexley and this one in 1945. ;Political history The seat has been won by a Conservative since creation except for the 1962, 1964 and 1966 Liberal Party wins of Eric Lubbock.

The 2015 result made the seat the 43rd safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.

;Role in the Liberal Party revival The seat is famous for its 1962 by-election when it was taken in a shock result and substantial victory by the Liberal Party candidate Eric Lubbock. He lost the seat in the 1970 general election.

The constituency shared boundaries with the Orpington electoral division for election of councillors to the Greater London Council at elections in 1973, 1977 and 1981.

Boundaries and boundary changes

1945–1950

The constituency was formed entirely from the existing of constituency Chislehurst

1950–1955

The part of the municipal borough of Beckenham included in the seat was transferred to the new constituency of Beckenham, part of the municipal borough of Bromley included in the seat was transferred to the constituency of Bromley while the Dartford Rural District (expect the parishes of Darenth, Stone, Sutton at Hone and Wilmington) was transferred from Chislehurst

1955–1974

The part of the Dartford Rural District included in the seat was transferred to the constituency of Dartford

1974–1983

Knockholt was transferred to the constituency of Sevenoaks

1983–1997

The wards of Biggin Hill and Darwin were transferred to the constituency of Ravensbourne

1997–2010

The wards of Biggin Hill and Darwin were transferred from the abolished constituency of Ravensbourne. The St Paul's Cray ward was transferred from the abolished constituency of Chislehurst

2010–2024

The ward of Cray Valley West was transferred to the constituency of Bromley and Chislehurst

Summary

The seat has changed a little in subsequent boundary reviews since 1955. For the 1997 general election the Ravensbourne seat which had emerged in the west by Bromley was divided between three constituencies which before then overshot the London Borough of Bromley, adding to Orpington the community of Biggin Hill.

Current

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency was defined as comprising the following wards of the London Borough of Bromley as they existed on 1 December 2020:

• Chelsfield and Pratts Bottom; Cray Valley East; Cray Valley West; Darwin (part1); Farnborough and Crofton; Crockenhill ; Well Hill;Hockenden ;Orpington; Petts Wood and Knoll.

1.Area marked “4” on the map of the Orpington constituency produced by the Boundary Commission for England

The boundary with Bromley and Chislehurst (to be renamed Bromley and Biggin Hill) was realigned with Cray Valley West ward being transferred in (thus uniting the two Cray Valley wards), offset by the loss of Biggin Hill.

Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2022, the constituency now comprises the following wards of the London Borough of Bromley from the 2024 general election:

• Chelsfield; Darwin (except polling district DAR1); Farnborough and Crofton; Orpington; Petts Wood and Knoll; Well Hill; Crockenhill; St Mary Cray; St Paul's Cray.

Constituency profile

The constituency is in the quite uniformly larger-housing dominated London Borough of Bromley, which has low unemployment and forms the southeastern limits of Greater London. It contains the largely buffered settlements of St Mary Cray, parts of St Pauls Cray, Swanley and Ruxley, then ascends through Orpington, Farnborough, and Chelsfield to the uppermost tracts of the North Downs and to the Biggin Hill settlement, which has an airport and retains some of the hill-farming and woodland which dominated the area through the Industrial Revolution until the inter-war period.

The wealth of the Conservative vote comes from Biggin Hill, Biggin Hill Valley, Downe and Orpington. The area mainly comprises detached and semi-detached houses surrounded by winding roads and vast areas of parkland, which since the seat's creation have continually returned Conservative candidates, with the exceptions of 1962, 1964 and 1966, when a Liberal MP was elected.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

| reg. electors = 71,203

Elections in the 2010s

|reg. electors = 68,884

|reg. electors = 67,902

By numerical vote share, the 2017 general election saw Orpington become the safest Conservative seat in London. |reg. electors = 68,129

|reg. electors = 67,732

Elections in the 2000s

|reg. electors = 78,240

|reg. electors = 78,853

Elections in the 1990s

|reg. electors = 78,831

|reg. electors = 57,318

Elections in the 1980s

|reg. electors = 59,608

|reg. electors = 58,759

Elections in the 1970s

|reg. electors = 67,917

|reg. electors = 65,686

|reg. electors = 64,967

|reg. electors = 65,191

Elections in the 1960s

|reg. electors = 55,776

|reg. electors = 54,846

|reg. electors = 53,779

Elections in the 1950s

|reg. electors = 51,872 |reg. electors = 46,581

|reg. electors = 55,069

| reg. electors = 53,023

|reg. electors = 50,704

Elections in the 1940s

| reg. electors = 57,625

Notes

References

References

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