London commuter belt: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The London commuter belt is the name given to the built-up area surrounding and running into Greater London, but not administered as part of it. The counties bordering, London, Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex all have built-up developments that directly run into the London metropolitan area, but the belt includes areas further away. As of the 2001 census, the London Metropolitan Area, which is the significant part of the commuter belt, was deemed to have a population of 13,945,000, making it 15th largest in the world.

The boundaries are not fixed and tend to rise as travel speeds increase, and could currently be considered to stretch as far as Reading, Guildford, and Milton Keynes, but is generally considered to include

• Addlestone, Amersham, Ashstead, Aylesbury
• Banstead, Basildon, Beaconsfield, Berkhamstead, Billericay, Borehamwood, Brentwood, England, Burnham, Byfleet
• Caterham, Cheshunt, Chertsey, Chesham, Chigwell, Chorleywood, Cobham, Crawley
• Dartford, Dorking
• East Grinstead, Egham, Epping, Epsom
• Farnborough, Fleet
• Gerrards Cross, Gravesend, Grays
• Harlow, Harpenden, Hatfield, Haywards Heath, Hemel Hempstead, Hextable, High Wycombe, Horley, Horsham
• Leatherhead, Loughton
• Medway, Maidstone
• Northfleet
• Ongar, Oxshott
• Potters Bar, Purley
• Radlett, Rayleigh, Redhill, Reigate, Rickmansworth, Rochester
• Sevenoaks, Slough, South Oxhey, Southend-on-Sea, St Albans, Staines, Swanley
• Tadworth, Theydon Bois, Thurrock, Tilbury, Tonbridge, Tring, Tunbridge Wells
• Waltham Abbey, Waltham Cross, Walton-on-Thames, Warlingham, Warlington, Watford, Welwyn Garden City, Weybridge, Windsor, Woking

Much of the undeveloped part of this area lies within a designated Metropolitan Green Belt (UK) so further significant urban development is generally resisted by District Councils backed by the Planning Inspectorate. It was expected that had this policy not been adopted during the 1940s and 1950s the area now perceived as the commuter belt would have been fully urbanized by about 1980, and the administrative boundaries of Greater London might well have been more extensive. The approval, in principle, of a second runway at Stansted Airport and the introduction of domestic train services along the international railway being built between Stratford (Newham) and Ashford (Kent) can be confidently expected to pull the area's limits outwards in north easterly and south easterly directions (respectively) bringing greater symmetry to the commuter belt as seen from above.