 With continued urbanisation and population growth in the Tawa valley, the population reached 3,900 in 1953 and the upgrade of the Town District to a borough was approved in October 1953.Rapid urbanisation and population growth was now occurring in the Porirua Basin with the development of state housing in Titahi Bay, Elsdon, and to the East of State Highway 1, and in 1961 the first municipality to have "Porirua" in its name, the Borough of Porirua, was formed when Makara County was abolished, with the mostly rural western part becoming the Makara Ward of Hutt County and the rapidly growing eastern urban portion (including Titahi Bay) becoming the Borough of Porirua.Four years later the population was officially estimated at over the 20,000 threshold then necessary for Porirua to be declared a city.