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North Ockendon is the only settlement of Greater London to be outside the M25. In 2004, following a poll, a move was mooted by the London Assembly to entirely align the Greater London boundary to the M25.[1]

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The three service areas are located in the central north (JCT 23 South Mimms), south east (Clacket Lane) and central east (Thurrock).

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The idea of an orbital road around London was first proposed early in the 20th century and was re-examined a number of times during the first half of the 20th century in plans such as Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Charles Bressey's The Highway Development Survey, 1937 and Sir Patrick Abercrombie's County of London Plan, 1943 and Greater London Plan, 1944. Abercrombie's plan proposed a series of five roads encircling the capital.

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In the post-war years little was done to implement Abercrombie's plans but in the 1960s the Greater London Council developed an ambitious plan for a network of ring roads around the capital. The London Ringways plan was hugely controversial due to the destruction required for the inner two ring roads and the enormous anticipated cost.

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The plan was modified a number of times to overcome opposition from the residents of threatened areas and the government, but was cancelled in 1973. Parts of the two outer ring roads, Ringways 3 and 4, were begun in 1973 and became the first two sections of the M25 to open in 1975 (junction 23 to junction 24) and 1976 (junction 6 to junction 8).

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Construction of the M25 continued in stages until its completion in 1986. The stages were not constructed contiguously but in small sections, such as Dartford to Swanley (junction 1 to junction 3) and Potters Bar to Waltham Cross (junction 24 to junction 25). As the orbital road developed the sections were linked. Each section was presented to planning authorities in its own right and was individually justified, with almost 40 public inquiries relating to sections of the route

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Each section was presented to planning authorities in its own right and was individually justified, with almost 40 public inquiries relating to sections of the route. Maps at this time depicting these short sections named the route as the M16 but this changed before completion. The northern sections of the M25 follow a similar route to the World War II Outer London Defence Ring.

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The M25 was officially opened on October 29, 1986 with a ceremony by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who opened the section between J22 and J23 (London Colney and South Mimms).

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The initial tenders for the construction of the M25 totalled £631.9 million. This did not include compulsory purchase of land and subsequent upgrades and repairs.

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More recently, the perennially congested south-western stretch of the M25 (near Woking) has been fitted with an experimental automated traffic control system called Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling (MIDAS).