Biggin Hill History – 1960 to the present day

It was from the 60’s that Biggin Hill has had its second impetus of development. There was property development in both parts of Biggin Hill, in the valley and along and behind Main Road.

This is probably due to the trend for people wanting to live in the country but still be within commuter distance of London. This trend was known as suburbanisation and it happened all around London not just in the South East part of the Borough of Bromley. The house prices were affordable in Biggin Hill mainly because there is no rail link to the area. There was the added bonus of being ‘out in the country’ the air was fresher and cleaner and people were looking to have a healthier environment to live and work in. The development was greatest in the valley part of Biggin Hill with houses and flats being built wherever land could be bought. Many houses have been built on the hillsides which has meant that they are split level and gardens are steep either to the front or back.

Biggin Hill is the furthest southern place in the Borough of Bromley, and is only 19 miles from London, even so it takes over an hour to drive to London, which shows that transport has not improved much since the 1900’s. There were plans to build a rail link to Biggin hill at the early part of the century but as already stated Mr. Dougal had insufficient funds to complete this. There are still remains of this project in the form of carriages and until recently there was a house made out of one of the discarded carriages in Moselle Road. The fact that there is no rail link has kept house prices down and also slowed down the amount of the surrounding farm land that has been built on.

Biggin Hill is within easy reach of Bromley, Orpington and Sevenoaks. It now has the advantage of being near to the M25 although there is no exit locally.

The population figure for 1971 was approximately 9000. By 1981 it had grown to 11,108 and in 1991 it was 11,468. we would estimate, with the introduction of the bill to allow building on Green belt land, that by 2001 the figure will be 12,700 as houses and flats will be built at an alarming rate.

(Figures courtesy of the Census department of Bromley Council)

Biggin Hill is no longer a village, countryside area, it has changed dramatically over the century. Nelson states that:

“Biggin Hill has had the advantage of neither a new nor an old town, it just started almost in the middle of nowhere, and then it grew.” (Nelson, 1982,p3)

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