Elmbridge is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Esher, and other notable towns and villages include Cobham, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge and Molesey. The borough lies just outside the administrative boundary of Greater London, but is mostly within the M25 motorway which encircles London. Many of the borough's urban areas form part of the wider Greater London Built-up Area.

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (October 2019)

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Borough of Elmbridge
Borough and non-metropolitan district
Walton-on-Thames, one of the borough's main towns
Coat of arms
Motto(s):  Dum Defluant Amnes (Latin: Until the rivers cease to flow)
Elmbridge shown within Surrey
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Non-metropolitan county	Surrey
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Esher
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Elmbridge Borough Council
Area
• Total	37.2 sq mi (96.3 km2)
• Rank	203rd (of 296)
Population  (2021)
• Total	139,369
• Rank	166th (of 296)
• Density	3,700/sq mi (1,400/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [1]
• Ethnic groups	List 86.1% White 6.5% Asian 4.1% Mixed 2% other 1.2% Black
Religion (2021) [1]
• Religion	List 52% Christianity 35.4% no religion 6.4% not stated 2.5% Islam 1.6% Hinduism 0.5% Buddhism 0.5% Judaism 0.5% Sikhism 0.4% other
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	43UB (ONS) E07000207 (GSS)
OS grid reference	TQ1402064766
Police	Surrey

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The neighbouring districts are Mole Valley, Guildford, Woking, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Richmond upon Thames and Kingston upon Thames, the latter two being London boroughs.

The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering two former districts which were both abolished at the same time:^[2]

• Esher Urban District
• Walton and Weybridge Urban District

The new district was named after the medieval Elmbridge hundred which had covered a similar area.^[3] The hundred appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Amelebrige.^[4] The name thus derives from the River Amele or Emley, an old name for the River Mole, rather than elm trees.^[5] The district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.^[6]

In the early 1990s the neighbouring London Borough of Kingston upon Thames sought to have eastern parts of Elmbridge, including Long Ditton, Thames Ditton, Hinchley Wood, Weston Green and the Moleseys transferred to it, making the case that these areas had particularly strong social and economic ties to Kingston and Greater London. The proposal was considered by the Local Government Boundary Commission in 1992, but was not pursued.^[7][8]

Elmbridge Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Surrey County Council.^[10] Claygate is a civil parish, which forms a third tier of local government for that part of the borough only; the rest of the borough is an unparished area.^[11]

In common with the nearby Surrey boroughs of Spelthorne and Epsom and Ewell, much of Elmbridge is a continuation of the built-up area of suburban London, and the areas of Molesey, Long Ditton, Thames Ditton, Hinchley Wood, Esher, Cobham and Claygate lie within the social and commercial orbit of neighbouring Kingston upon Thames.^[7] Molesey, Cobham, the Dittons and Claygate were included in the Metropolitan Police District from 1840 until 2000.^[21][22]

From East to West:

• Long Ditton
• Thames Ditton
• Hinchley Wood
• Claygate
• Weston Green
• Molesey (East Molesey)
• Esher including West End and Lower Green^[26]
• Oxshott
• Hersham including Burwood Park^{[n 3]}
• Molesey (West Molesey)
• Walton on Thames including Fieldcommon and Ashley Park
• Cobham including Fairmile and the hamlets of Hatchford and Downside
• Stoke D'Abernon
• Weybridge including St George's Hill

The borough is home to some of the county's highest earners.^[27] It has been labelled Britain's Beverly Hills by sections of the press. Famous residents, past and present, include Sir Cliff Richard, Mick Jagger, George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood, Andy Murray, Kate Winslet, John Terry, Gary Lineker, Mick Hucknall, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Theo Paphitis, Chris Tarrant, Peter Crouch, Michael Aspel and Shilpa Shetty.^[28]

St George's Hill is noted as the site of one of the earliest experiments in common ownership of land by ordinary people, in a marked contrast to the area's modern status as a wealthy private estate. In 1649 the "Diggers", one of the radical groups set up in the aftermath of the English Civil War and the execution of Charles I seized common land in the area and lived by simple farming. As well as debates about religion and how the country should be run at this time these groups complained that even the Parliamentary side in the Civil War was dominated by "Grandees" i.e. wealthy nobles who often spent their time in comfort conducting fatuous debates in Parliament while the less well off risked their lives in the war to defeat an absolutist system. They were the subject of a long campaign of harassment by a local landowner and were eventually removed following a court case.^[29]

The M25 motorway has several junctions nearby and the A3(M) from London bisects the borough.

The main north-south road is the A244 for instance to London Heathrow Airport and starts in the borough at Walton Bridge leading to Esher and Oxshott then to Leatherhead. The east-west Leatherhead to Horsell, Woking road, the A245 leads by Cobham and Brooklands, Weybridge.

As to rail, the South West Main Line cuts through the borough, with four stations from Esher to Weybridge, one of which several express services call at: Walton on Thames in the Ashley Park estate of the south of the town. The branch lines have services with four stations in the borough via Cobham & Stoke D'Abernon to Guildford; and a branch to Thames Ditton and Hampton Court railway station in East Molesey, both within Transport for London's Zone 6.

Bus services include TfL Oyster card services to East and West Molesey, Hinchley Wood, Claygate and Esher.

Cycling is very popular, with the Thames Path passing through the north of the borough and the 2012 Summer Olympics hosting both of the main road cycling events in the borough with most of the road section around Hampton Court and with the sections of the routes taken to and from Box Hill.

The economy is diverse, with a strong local service sector, including numerous bars and restaurants,^[28] homes built and being built for city workers as the majority of locations have access to one of the Home Counties fastest commutes,^[30] trades including interior supplies, fitting,^[28] gardening, golf course/landscape management and a developed public/education sector. Of international renown are the employers Sony, Procter & Gamble, JTI (formerly Gallaher) and Toshiba Information Systems alongside the local corporate venues and day-out attractions of Sandown Park Racecourse and Mercedes-Benz World. As of 2012, Elmbridge residents had average weekly earnings of £1162.^[31]

The Borough of Elmbridge is not twinned with any towns. However, between 1966 and 2009 Elmbridge was formally twinned with the Paris suburb of Rueil-Malmaison, Hauts de Seine, France.^[32]

The council's arms were created upon the formation of the present day district, being formed out of symbols taken from the local towns and villages with the Latin motto meaning until the rivers cease. The arms include a depiction of an elm tree on a bridge, being a play on the district's name.^[18]