please empty your brain below
In the mid-90s, I went to a talk by Jules Pipe - leader of Hackney council at that time. He was very bitter about this review. As far as he was concerned, its main purpose was to ensure that the bits of the Broadgate development which were in Hackney went to the City, with their associated business rates. This was a government initiative, to weaken the funding base of a Labour council and to advantage the City. He didn’t mention any individual intervention, but if his account was true, the individual submission may have been a cover for a decision the committee already wanted to make.

Of course, I’ve no independent information on whether Pipe’s account was accurate...

Baldassaro | 29.10.20 - 7:19 a.m. | #

Following the link to other scanned reports, I was particularly intrigued by the title "Report 555. County of Herefordshire [sic] and its boundary with Bedfordshire… June 1988".

A bit boring to find just a typo.

mushroomcounter | 29.10.20 - 7:39 a.m. | #

Interesting, looking at the link, it appears that some boroughs aren't listed in their own right, but via the back door as part of a boundary reveiw with the adjoining borough.

Still Anon | 29.10.20 - 7:49 a.m. | #

In the 1990s all business rates, although collected by local councils, went straight through to central government.

arcturus | 29.10.20 - 8:26 a.m. | #

I don't understand why the Broadgate extension also included the railway tracks coming out of Liverpool Street station.

kev | 29.10.20 - 8:28 a.m. | #

Bizarrely, I was reading this very same report just last week, after reading about the Newham/Redbridge boundary at Merlin Road. The LGBCE’s website is a treasure trove of historical info, and the current reviews are fascinating too.

(DG, love your work, but could you consider using more distinct colours next time? Yellow and green highlighter is difficult for people with even mild colourblindness to distinguish).

Barrington Fisch | 29.10.20 - 8:33 a.m. | #

As a current LGBCE employee, I'm pleased to see our work discussed, and hopefully appreciated. It can be a thankless task reading hundreds of submission accusing you of gerrymandering when we are entirely independent public body that goes to great lengths to demonstrates its lack of political bias.

You say this have changed since the 1990s in terms of public engagement but we do still get reviews where submissions don't reach three figures. It all depends on how good local engagement is.

Looking forward to more of the City of London ward posts.

LGBCE wonk | 29.10.20 - 8:37 a.m. | #

Arcturus. True, but they were then redistributed to councils via a formula grant, and the change may have affected what Hackney received. I know that (a) Pipe was very angry about the change; and (b) spent most of a talk to a South Korean delegation I was accompanying complaining about it, to their bemusement.

Baldassaro | 29.10.20 - 8:40 a.m. | #

The background to the members of the Boundary Commission for England in this period is here in a Commons written answer from July 1991.

Charles | Homepage | 29.10.20 - 8:44 a.m. | #

kev -The station throat would be classed as part of the station, and along with the signal box located there meant that the entire station was in the City, and not have just those parts in Hackney.

Here is the land owned by network rail in that area and it does seem that there is a nice cut off on that street.

Hans Gruber | 29.10.20 - 9:21 a.m. | #

The boundary extension includes the railway tracks coming out of Liverpool Street station because the final stages of the Broadgate development were built above them.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 29.10.20 - 9:32 a.m. | #

Looking at the first map, I was quite surprised to see the tiny sliver of land, within the previous city boundary, where Broad Street station and its approach tracks used to be. It really was a minnow among termini.

Malcolm of Kent | 29.10.20 - 9:38 a.m. | #

I'm relieved, at least, that boundaries with Lambeth and Southwark were not re-considered.

Cau1khead | 29.10.20 - 9:41 a.m. | #

Ta for this, DG - it answers the question I failed to ask, about when the City's boundary changed. The City's "dragons" are now in Norton Folgate at the junction with Worship Street but your earlier article marked the boundary at Boots the Chemist in Bishopsgate, oversimply. Now I know.

dg writes: The City boundary has extended beyond Boots for at least 800 years.

Joel | 29.10.20 - 10:06 a.m. | #

Just swinging by to say “thanks” for a fascinating post, and some interesting follow-ups in the comments !

CJS | 29.10.20 - 10:26 a.m. | #

The inclusion of the Golden Lane Estate means there is now one road in the City - a short bit of Goswell Road. This has won me a few bets in the past!

Phil | 29.10.20 - 10:58 a.m. | #

Fascinating stuff. I knew the City boundary in the vicinity of Holborn Circus used to be very odd - both ends of the building I used to work in were in Camden but the middle bit was in the City - but had not previously found the date on which it changed. The changes I think also resulted in the highest point in the City moving one stop down the Central Line from St Pauls to Chancery Lane.

The Met/City Police jurisdiction can be complicated - I saw an accident at Holborn Circus where a motorcyclist ended up in the City whilst his machine was the responsibility of the Met.

I discovered the boundary review myself recently when I was investigating the strange boundary between Richmond and Kingston.

timbo | 29.10.20 - 11:39 a.m. | #

Fascinating stuff. I've often thought of walking the City Boundary, but have never got round to it.
Now I have the added dilemma of choosing which boundary to follow!!

Cornish Cockney | 29.10.20 - 11:43 a.m. | #

The boundary between Brent and Harrow within the ‘Welsh Harp’ reservoir is very interesting

Stephen | 29.10.20 - 12:18 p.m. | #

Fascinating example of person power, DG!

One small thing though - in your third to last paragraph, should it not read ‘a) west of Chancery Lane’? I only ask because you then go on to mention ‘south of Aldgate’ - which I found confusing, given your map.

dg writes: No.

Sam | 29.10.20 - 12:21 p.m. | #

I always wondered why the LB of Barnet lost its little pointed salient that brought it almost all the way up to Potters Bar. Changed the familiar GLC London shape in the same way as retracting some of Havering behind the M25 did around the same time.

Matt | 29.10.20 - 1:34 p.m. | #

I left London in mid-1980, and my final work location was an office with Finsbury Circus as its address, but which extended back to South Place with windows overlooking the junction with Wilson Street and Eldon Street. Hackney refuse vehicles were often seen in Wilson Street (and used to impede light running buses preparing to enter service on route 502). I had no idea of the more recent boundary review, so thank you dg.

Ian | 29.10.20 - 1:37 p.m. | #

@mushroomcounter
Thanks for spotting the typo. I have fixed it. Unfortunately it is also in the file name but I can't access that RN. Hope that will do.

LGBCE wonk | 29.10.20 - 2:02 p.m. | #

When I was eight I lived in East Sussex. The 1974 local government reorganisation moved the boundary so that I then lived in West Sussex. I like to think that that's when my interest in local government started.

Sarah | Homepage | 29.10.20 - 5:13 p.m. | #

Ta for the correction / update.

Also, the street signs along Rosebery Avenue imply the street is in four Boroughs - Finsbury, Islington, Holborn and Camden!

Joel | 30.10.20 - 2:25 p.m. | #











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