During the Cold War every London Borough was obliged to have a Civil Defence centre. These were controversial structures as it was widely believed that planning for the aftermath of nuclear war was both expensive and pointless.^{[citation needed]}

The area of London (extending outwards to the then boundary of the Metropolitan Police District and thus including some areas outside the modern Greater London) was designated Region 5 and had its regional seat of government in a re-used radar station at Kelvedon Hatch in Essex. Below this level it was split into five groups – North, North East, North West, South East and South West. Each group had a control centre. Below this each borough had one as well.

• Military citadels under London
• Subterranean London

• London Civil Defence Controls