The London Borough of Bexley () is a London borough in south-east London, forming part of Outer London. It has a population of 248,287. The main settlements are Sidcup, Erith, Bexleyheath, Crayford, Welling and Old Bexley. The London Borough of Bexley is within the Thames Gateway, an area designated as a national priority for urban regeneration. The local authority is Bexley London Borough Council.
History
Prior to the 19th century the area now forming the borough was sparsely populated: very few of the present settlements were mentioned in the Domesday Book, although the village of Bexley has a charter dated 814 AD. Erith was a port on the River Thames until the 17th century; the opening of the sewage works at nearby Crossness in the late 19th century turned it into an industrial town.
Today's settlement pattern is the result of the gradual extension of the London influence. Until the 19th century it was an area with a few isolated buildings such as the Georgian Danson House. With the coming of the railways building began apace, although the area is still composed of many disconnected settlements, interspersed with area of open ground and parks.
The London Borough of Bexley was formed in 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, from the Municipal Boroughs of Bexley and Erith; Crayford Urban District; and part of Chislehurst and Sidcup Urban District. All of these were entirely within the boundaries of the historic county of Kent. The council initially held meetings at Erith Town Hall before building new purpose-built Civic Offices on the south side of the Broadway, Bexleyheath in 1980. It established new Civic Offices at the former headquarters of The Woolwich in 2014.
The council now styles itself the "London Borough of Bexley" in line with its formal name, although it previously styled itself "Bexley London Borough" until 1999 (possibly to maintain the link with its predecessor, Bexley Municipal Borough), and "Bexley Council" from 1999 to October 2007, when it reverted to its full formal name in conjunction with the adoption of a new Council logo bearing this name alongside the 1965 Coat of Arms.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of the borough depicts symbols for the main rivers in the area, the Bexley Charter Oak, the industry and the Kent boundary.
Governance
Bexley London Borough Council
The administrative headquarters of the borough is at Bexleyheath.
There are 17 wards represented on Bexley Council; each ward elects two or three councillors, 45 in all. The wards are shown on the accompanying map.
In the 2018 election, 34 Conservative and 11 Labour councillors were elected, resulting in the former holding the council. Since the 2018 election one Labour councillor has become an Independent.
Greater London representation
For elections to the Greater London Council, the borough formed the Bexley electoral division, electing three members. In 1973 it was divided into the single-member Bexleyheath, Erith and Crayford and Sidcup electoral divisions. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986.
Since 2000, for elections to the London Assembly, the borough forms part of the Bexley and Bromley constituency.
Geography
Bexley, lying as it does on the outer fringe of London, has many relatively large areas of open space. The ridge of higher ground in South London crosses the Borough from its high point of Shooters Hill, on the boundary with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, to end above the River Thames at Belvedere, where the land drops down to the old port of Erith. This high land, whose geology is the sand and pebbles of the Blackheath beds, and which results in heathland, provided a natural course for the old Roman road of Watling Street, which ran between Crayford and Welling. The land falls away to the north of the high ground, across the Erith Marshes to the River Thames, which here makes a loop to the north at Crossness. There is a further ridge of less higher ground from the west terminating at Sidcup.
Apart from the River Thames the other rivers within the Borough are the River Darent, which, with its tributary the River Cray and the smaller Stanham River, all form part of its north-eastern boundary; and the River Shuttle, a tributary of the Cray.