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.[3]
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.
Chelsfield, Darwin (except polling district DAR1), Farnborough and Crofton, Orpington, Petts Wood and Knoll, Well Hill, Crockenhill, St Mary Cray, St Paul's Cray.[9]
Map showing the wards of the Orpington parliamentary constituency (red) within the London Borough of Bromley (yellow). Cray Valley West (orange) was included in the constituency at the election in 2005 but transferred to Bromley and Chislehurst in 2010.
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
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.
Chelsfield and Pratts Bottom; Cray Valley East; Cray Valley West; Darwin (part1); Farnborough and Crofton; Crockenhill ; Well Hill;Hockenden ;Orpington; Petts Wood and Knoll.[10]
1.Area marked “4” on the map of the Orpington constituency produced by the Boundary Commission for England[11]
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,[12][13] 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.[14]
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,[citation needed] which since the seat's creation have continually returned Conservative candidates, with the exception of 1962, when a Liberal MP was elected.
^"1955 By Elections - part 1". 31 August 2009. Archived from the original on 31 August 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)