Epping Forest District facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Epping Forest Epping Forest District
Non-metropolitan district
Ongar, one of the towns of the district
Epping Forest shown within Essex
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East of England
Non-metropolitan county	Essex
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Epping
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Epping Forest District Council
Area
• Total	130.88 sq mi (338.99 km2)
Area rank	125th (of 326)
Population  (2005 est.)
• Total	131,689
• Rank	170th (of 326)
• Density	1,006.145/sq mi (388.475/km2)
• Ethnicity	95.4% White 2.7% S.Asian 1.3% Black 0.6% Mixed Race
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	22UH (ONS) E07000072 (GSS)
OS grid reference	TL455025

Epping Forest District is a local government district in Essex, England. It is named after the ancient woodland of Epping Forest, a large part of which lies within the district. The council is based in the town of Epping. The district also includes the towns of Loughton, Ongar and Waltham Abbey and surrounding rural areas. The district is situated in the west of the county, bordering the north-eastern edge of London.

The neighbouring districts are Broxbourne, East Hertfordshire, Harlow, Uttlesford, Chelmsford, Brentwood and the London Boroughs of Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest and Enfield.

History

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the whole area of three former districts and most of a fourth, all of which were abolished at the same time:

• Chigwell Urban District (which included Loughton and Buckhurst Hill as well as Chigwell itself)
• Epping and Ongar Rural District (except the five parishes of Blackmore, Doddinghurst, Kelvedon Hatch, Navestock and Stondon Massey, which went to Brentwood)
• Epping Urban District
• Waltham Holy Cross Urban District

The new district was named Epping Forest after the ancient woodland of that name, much of which falls within the district. The woodland is in turn named after the town of Epping.

Since 1974 there have been some changes to the district's boundary with Greater London:

• In 1994, 279 acres (1.13 km²), which now form Enfield Island Village, were transferred to the London Borough of Enfield
• In 1995 a small area around Grange Hill and Roding Valley stations was transferred to the London Borough of Redbridge.

Governance

Epping Forest District Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Chair	Darshan Sunger, Conservative Since 25 May 2023
Leader	Chris Whitbread, Conservative Since 22 May 2012
Chief Executive	Georgina Blakemore Since 1 April 2019
Structure
Seats	58
Political groups	Administration (34)      Conservatives (34) Opposition (24)      Loughton RA (13)      Liberal Democrats (6)      Independent (3)      Green (2)
Elections
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	2024
Meeting place
Civic Offices, 323 High Street, Epping, CM16 4BZ

Epping Forest District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Essex County Council. The district is also entirely covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

Political control

The council has been under Conservative control since 2006.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 2001 have been:

Composition

Following the 2023 election, the composition of the council was:

Two of the three independent councillors sit together as the "Grange Hill Independent Community Group". The next election is due in 2024.

Premises

Epping Forest District Council is based at the Civic Offices at 323 High Street, Epping.

When the council was first created it inherited four sets of offices from its predecessors and functions were initially divided between them:

• Council Offices, Old Station Road, Loughton from Chigwell Urban District Council.
• 25 Hemnall Street, Epping from Epping Urban District Council.
• 323 High Street, Epping from Epping and Ongar Rural District Council.
• Town Hall, Highbridge Street, Waltham Abbey from Waltham Holy Cross Urban District Council.

The council subsequently built a large new building called Civic Offices adjoining the original converted house at 323 High Street in Epping. The new building was designed by Richard Reid and built between 1987 and 1992. It was designated a Grade II listed building in 2017.

Geography

The north-east of the district is rural and sparsely populated for an area so close to London; this area includes Chipping Ongar and surrounding villages. The south-west of the district closer to the boundary with Greater London is more suburban and is dominated by Loughton, the largest town in the district. Most of the district has a wide range of architectural styles and periods. Loughton adjoins the woodland of Epping Forest to the west and is separated by farms, rivers and golf courses from other settlements in other directions. As an example of conserved physical geographic landscapes, the Roding Valley and Three Forests Way (one end of the Stort Valley Way and the other end connecting to the Harcamlow Way in Hatfield Forest and National Nature Reserve, Essex which is north of Epping Forest District.

The River Roding runs through the eastern portion of the district, with the Lea Valley in the west.

Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell, Waltham Abbey and Loughton, although they are not within Greater London, are included in the Office for National Statistics definition of the Greater London Built-up Area.

Epping Forest district is bounded by the Harlow, Uttlesford, Chelmsford and Brentwood districts of Essex, the East Hertfordshire and Broxbourne districts of Hertfordshire, and the London boroughs of Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest and Enfield.

Transport

Rail

Roydon railway station on the West Anglia Main Line is the only National Rail station within the district, which lies on the district boundary with East Hertfordshire. Sawbridgeworth railway station on the same line lies directly west of the district, within Hertfordshire, as does Waltham Cross railway station, which serves the district's town of Waltham Abbey. These stations are served by Greater Anglia trains either between London Liverpool Street and Ely, and London Stratford and Bishop's Stortford, with direct connections to destinations such as Broxbourne, Tottenham Hale, Audley End and Cambridge.

The London Underground Central line passes through the southern portion of Epping Forest. Epping, Theydon Bois, Debden and Loughton stations in the borough fall in London fare zone 6, with Buckhurst Hill in zone 5 and Roding Valley, Chigwell and Grange Hill in zone 4.

The Central line provides the district with direct connections with East London, The City, the West End, and West London. Transport for London manages the London Underground network.

A former portion of the Central line between Epping and Chipping Ongar, via North Weald and Blake Hall, is part of the Epping Ongar Railway.

Road

Two motorways meet in the district - the M25 London Orbital motorway and the M11 motorway.

The M25 motorway runs eastbound (clockwise) towards Brentwood and the Dartford Crossing. The motorway runs westbound (anticlockwise) towards Enfield, Watford and Heathrow Airport. The M11 motorway runs northbound towards Stansted Airport and Cambridge, and southbound towards East London. Junctions 5 (A1168, Loughton and Chigwell), 6 (M25), 7 (A414, Harlow) and 7A (A1025, Harlow) fall within Epping Forest.

Other main routes in the district include:

• A414 primary route - between Harlow and Chelmsford, via Ongar. Onward connections towards Hemel Hempstead via Harlow, and Maldon;
• A104 Epping New Road - between Wake Arms and Woodford. Onward connections towards Leyton and Islington;
• A112 - between Waltham Abbey and Sewardstone. Onward connections towards Walthamstow and Stratford;
• A113 - between Chipping Ongar and Chigwell. Onward connections towards Wanstead;
• A121 - between Waltham Cross and Woodford, via Waltham Abbey, Loughton and Buckhurst Hill;
• A128 - Chipping Ongar. Onward connections towards Brentwood and Thurrock;
• A1069 - Onward connections towards Chingford;
• A1112 - Chigwell Row. Onward connections towards Chadwell Heath;
• A1168 - between Loughton and Chigwell;
• B184 - between Ongar and Great Dunmow. Onward connections towards Saffron Walden;
• B1393 - between Wake Arms and M11 junction 7, via Epping.

Most public highways in the district are managed by Essex County Council. The M11 and M25 motorways are managed by National Highways.

Cycling

National Cycle Network Route 1 passes along the eastern boundary of the district near Broxbourne, through Harlow, and east-west through the district via High Laver, Moreton and Fyfield.

A shared-use path runs alongside the Rivers Lee and Stort, which connect the district with other cycle routes in Hertfordshire and London.

Epping Forest features a network of shared-use forest trails, managed by the City of London Corporation.

Aviation

North Weald Airfield is owned by Epping Forest District Council and is open to general aviation. Flying out of North Weald began in 1916, during the First World War.

Stapleford Aerodrome is home to a flight training centre within the district.

Stansted Airport, an international passenger and freight airport, lies in the neighbouring district of Uttlesford, north of the district.

Rivers

The Lee Navigation and River Stort are navigable rivers which form the district's eastern boundary. They are managed by the Canal and River Trust, and connect with the Regent's Canal in London via Hertford Union Canal.

Nature reserves

The Lower Forest, Epping Forest

Epping Forest District Council has nine nature local nature reserves (LNRs):

• Chigwell Row Wood LNR
• Church Lane Flood Meadow LNR
• Home Mead LNR
• Linder's Field LNR
• Nazeing Triangle LNR
• Roding Valley Meadows LNR
• Roughtalley's Wood LNR
• Thornwood Flood Meadow LNR
• Weald Common Flood Meadows LNR

Roding Valley Meadows Local Nature Reserve (LNR) is the district's oldest nature reserve, designated in 1986, and the largest at 56 hectares.

Seven Sites of Special Scientific Interest on the Natural England register fall within Epping Forest. These are:

• Epping Forest
• Cornmill Stream and Old River Lea
• Hainault Forest
• Hunsdon Mead (part)
• Roding Valley Meadows
• Turnford and Cheshunt Pits (part)
• Waltham Abbey

Essex Wildlife Trust manages sites at:

• Gernon Bushes Nature Reserve, near Coopersale
• Hunsdon Mead, near Roydon
• Roding Valley Meadows, near Chigwell

Epping Forest partially falls within the Epping Forest district. It has been owned and conserved by the City of London Corporation - the local authority which governs the Square Mile - since the Epping Forest Act 1878.

Elections

Since the last full review of boundaries in 2002 the council has comprised 58 councillors representing 32 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with roughly a third of the council being elected each time for a four-year term. In the fourth year of the cycle when there are no district council elections, there are elections for Essex County Council instead.

The wards are:

New ward boundaries are being prepared to take effect from the 2024 elections.

County Council

Of the seven Essex County Councillors elected for Epping Forest divisions in the most recent county council elections in 2021, six are from the Conservative Party, and one is from Loughton Residents Association.

Constituencies

The district straddles three constituencies:

• Epping Forest, covering the majority of the west of the district, including the towns of Buckhurst Hill, Loughton, Chigwell, Theydon Bois, Epping and Waltham Abbey.
• Brentwood and Ongar constituency, mostly covering the part of the district east of the River Roding, including the parish of Ongar and village of North Weald Bassett.
• Harlow constituency, which includes the villages of Roydon and Lower Nazeing to the west of Harlow, and Sheering, Matching and Hastingwood to the east.

Parishes

Civil parishes in Epping Forest District. The forest itself today spans from Epping Upland to the Greater London border

The district is divided into 28 civil parishes. The parish councils of Epping, Loughton, Ongar and Waltham Abbey take the style "town council". The five parishes of Bobbingworth, High Laver, Little Laver, Magdalen Laver and Moreton share a grouped parish council called Moreton, Bobbingworth and the Lavers Parish Council.

Arms

See also

In Spanish: Distrito de Epping Forest para niños