"Aurora" wrote

However, the real issue here is that Westminster was thrust upon the
inhabitants of the neighboring boroughs. Had there been a ballot
option, offering the choice, there would be no problem here. The
residents would have decided to maintain their old local borough, or
join the nearby City. As it is we will never know.

The decision to reorganise London local government was taken at national
level, and it was true that there were no ballots as to which new London
Borough the old Metropolitan Boroughs would go into. Keeping the old
boroughs was not an option - they were too small, but local opinion was
taken into account. The original proposal was for Chislehurst & Sidcup UD to
go into Bexley Borough - sensible for Sidcup, but unwelcome in Chislehurst,
and after pressure it was agreed to split the UD along the A20 - Chislehurst
going into Bromley Borough.

Orpington UD also went into Bromley Borough. Knockholt didn't like this - it
wanted to stay in Kent, and following pressure, Knockkholt got out of
Greater London and Bromley Borough, and went into Sevenoaks District in Kent
in 1974 - and got its parish council back, which it lost when Orpington
became an Urban District.

Peter