View of the London Commuter Belt showing commuter towns and the main road and rail links into the city. Urban areas in and around London are grey.

The London commuter belt is the metropolitan area surrounding London, England, from which it is practical to commute to work in the capital. It is sometimes referred to as the London metropolitan area,^[1] and occasionally as the Stockbroker Belt or Southeast metropolitan area,^[2] or the Greater Southeast.^[3] It should not be confused with Greater London or the Greater London Urban Area.

Scope [edit]

The boundaries are not fixed; they expand as transport options improve and affordable housing moves further away from London.^[4] The commuter belt currently covers much of the South East region and part of the East of England region. This includes the home counties of Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Kent and Essex, and by several definitions, the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex and Bedfordshire. The population of Greater London and those counties adjacent to the green belt was 18,868,800 in 2011. Much of the undeveloped part of this area lies within the designated Metropolitan Green Belt. The Green belt currently covers nearly all of Surrey, eastern Berkshire, southern Buckinghamshire, southern and mid Hertfordshire, southern Bedfordshire, south-west Essex, and western Kent. In addition, three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (the Chiltern Hills, Surrey Hills and North Downs AONBs) surrounding the Thames basin feature in the commuter belt.

Definitions [edit]

Travel to Work Area [edit]

London Travel to Work Area in 2001 (dark blue), with the administrative boundary of Greater London shown

The London Travel to Work Area, defined by the Office for National Statistics as the area for which "of the resident economically active population, at least 75% actually work in the area, and also, that of everyone working in the area, at least 75% actually live in the area."^[5] has a population of 9,294,800 (2005 estimate).^[6]

Environs of Greater London [edit]

The built up area of London (grey) extends beyond the London boundary. The M25 is also shown. The 020 telephoning dialling code (red) extends beyond the London boundary in places

There are seventeen local government districts that share a boundary with Greater London in the East and South East regions. Most districts are entirely, or have sections, within the bounds of the M25 motorway or are within 15–20 miles (24–32 km) of Charing Cross. Adjacent districts often share some characteristics of Outer London such as forming part of the continuous urban sprawl, being served by the London Underground, being covered by the London telephone area code, until 2000 forming part of the Metropolitan Police District and having a relatively high employed population working in London.

ONS Greater London Urban Area [edit]

The Office for National Statistics includes the following urban sub-units from adjacent regions in their "Greater London Urban Area":^[7]

London Larger Urban Zone [edit]

According to Eurostat the population of London's Larger Urban Zone is 11.9 million,^[8] making it the largest in the European Union. The districts that are considered parts of this Larger Urban Zone are listed here.^[9] No districts from Bedfordshire, Hampshire or Sussex are considered parts of London's larger urban zone. Several large conurbations fall just outside this Zone: Reading, Luton, High Wycombe and significant parts of both the Aldershot Urban Area and the Crawley Urban Area.

Urban Areas within the commuter belt [edit]

The following table lists Urban Areas considered part of the London Commuter Belt with populations over twenty thousand.^[10][11] The Basingstoke, Sittingbourne, Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath urban areas are not considered part of the commuter belt, according to World Gazetteer, though Leighton Buzzard is.^[11]

See also [edit]

• Home counties
• List of metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• London Travel to Work Area mapped with others
• A list of towns considered part of the commuter belt according to World Gazetteer

v t e London commuter belt Home Counties Bedfordshire Berkshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire City of London Dorset Essex Greater London Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent Middlesex Oxfordshire Surrey Sussex Urban Areas Greater London Urban Area Reading/Wokingham Urban Area Southend Urban Area Aldershot Urban Area Luton/Dunstable Urban Area High Wycombe Urban Area Medway Towns Urban Area Aylesbury Urban Area London boroughs Barking and Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth Westminster Cities and towns (100k+) Chelmsford Crawley High Wycombe London Luton Reading Slough Southend-on-Sea Towns (25k-99k) Aldershot Ashford, Surrey Aylesbury Basildon Basingstoke Billericay Bishop's Stortford Borehamwood Bracknell Brentwood Burgess Hill Camberley Canvey Island Chatham Cheshunt Dartford Dunstable Epsom Ewell Earley Farnborough Farnham Fleet Gillingham Guildford Gravesend Grays Harlow Harpenden Hatfield Hemel Hempstead Horsham Hitchin Leighton Buzzard Letchworth Loughton Maidenhead Maidstone Rayleigh, Essex Redhill Rochester Royal Tunbridge Wells Sittingbourne St Albans Stevenage Strood Sunbury-on-Thames Tonbridge Ware Watford Welwyn Garden City Wickford Windsor Woking Wokingham Woodley Towns (10k-25k) Addlestone Amersham Ashtead Baldock Beaconsfield Berkhamsted Broxbourne Buckhurst Hill Bushey Chertsey Chesham Chigwell Corringham Croxley Green Dorking East Grinstead East Malling Englefield Green Epping Frimley Frogmore Godalming Hadleigh Haywards Heath Hertford Hoddesdon Horley Houghton Regis Knaphill Marlow Potters Bar Reigate Rickmansworth Rochford Sandhurst Sevenoaks Snodland Shepperton South Benfleet Southborough, Kent Staines-upon-Thames Stanford-le-Hope Stanwell Swanley Thundersley Tilbury Tring Waltham Abbey Waltham Cross Yateley