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Epping Forest District

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Epping Forest District
Non-metropolitan district
Epping Forest shown within Essex
Epping Forest shown within Essex
Locations within the district
Locations within the district
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryEngland
RegionEast of England
Non-metropolitan countyEssex
StatusNon-metropolitan district
Admin HQEpping
Incorporated1 April 1974
Government
 • TypeNon-metropolitan district council
 • BodyEpping Forest District Council
 • LeadershipLeader & Cabinet (No overall control)
 • MPsEleanor Laing
Eric Pickles
Robert Halfon
Area
 • Total130.88 sq mi (338.99 km2)
 • Rank106th (of 296)
Population
 (2022)
 • Total134,989
 • Rank174th (of 296)
 • Density1,000/sq mi (400/km2)
 • Ethnicity
95.4% White
2.7% S.Asian
1.3% Black
0.6% Mixed Race
Time zoneUTC0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code22UH (ONS)
E07000072 (GSS)
OS grid referenceTL455025
Websitewww.eppingforestdc.gov.uk

Epping Forest is a local government district of the county of Essex, England. It is named after Epping Forest, of which the district contains a large part. It lies to the north-east of Greater London, but is not part of it.

Settlement

The north-east of the district is rural and sparsely populated for an area so close to London; it includes the town of Chipping Ongar and surrounding villages. The south, dominated by Loughton, the largest town in the district, is more suburban, although set against the semi-rural fringes of the Forest itself. The settlements here border, and in places (Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill) are contiguous with, London. Although entirely outside Greater London much of the south of the district is included in the Greater London Urban Area.

History

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chigwell Urban District, Epping Urban District and Waltham Holy Cross Urban District, along with most of Epping and Ongar Rural District. Since then there have been some changes to the Greater London boundary:

Transport

The district can be traced on maps by reference to the M25 motorway and the M11 motorway which form a junction at Theydon Garnon. From the junction the towns of Loughton and Buckhurst Hill are south-west, Chigwell is south, Waltham Abbey is west, Epping north-west, and Ongar north-east.

Rail transport in the district is provided by the Central Line of the London Underground and the West Anglia Main Line.[3] Further National Rail stations are available at Harlow, Sawbridgeworth and Bishop's Stortford, along the District's boundary.

The stations in the district are:

Unlike the section of the Metropolitan Line outside Greater London, where a special fare structure exists, each station in the district is in one of Travelcard zones 4, 5 or 6. This is because Essex County Council have agreed a subsidy scheme with Transport for London similar to that with the London boroughs, whilst neither Hertfordshire County Council nor Buckinghamshire County Council have done so. From 2 January 2007, the stations on the Hainault Loop in the southern part of the district (Roding Valley, Chigwell and Grange Hill), which had previously been in Travelcard zone 5, were reallocated to zone 4 in an attempt by Transport for London to encourage greater use of this section of the line. Until November 2006, services to Roding Valley, Chigwell and Grange Hill stopped at around 8pm but since then the service has run to around midnight. However, the service to these stations is still not as frequent as to those wholly within Greater London or to those between Buckhurst Hill and Epping.

The Central Line used to have an extension from Epping to Ongar, with intermediate stations at North Weald and Blake Hall. However, patronage on this line was never high, and it ceased to be a part of the London Underground when it closed in 1994, with the remote Blake Hall station having closed 13 years earlier, in 1981, reputedly having only served six passengers a day. The line was nonetheless reopened in 2004 as the Epping Ongar Railway, which runs heritage services on Sundays and bank holidays.

North Weald Airfield, a Battle of Britain airfield, is owned by the District Council, and has a long runway allowing use of jet aircraft. Stapleford Aerodrome is another local airfield, and offers pleasure and charter flights.[4]

Politics

Following the general election of 6 May 2010, the current members of parliament for the district are:

Of the seven Essex County Councillors elected for Epping Forest divisions in the most recent county council elections in 2009, five are from the Conservative Party, one is a Liberal Democrat, and one is from Loughton Residents Association.

Local government

The highest polling party in each ward the last time there was an election there.

The district council is now based in Epping, roughly in the centre of the district. Its offices were previously located in Loughton.

Since 2002, when the ward boundaries were reorganised resulting in the loss of one council seat, the district has had 58 councillors representing 32 wards. Each ward is represented by one, two or three councillors, depending on the ward's population, so that each councillor represents a roughly equal proportion of the district's electorate.[5]

Councillors serve for a four-year term. They are elected on a cycle of thirds, i.e. in three years out of every four, a third of the council is up for election, and no elections take place in the fourth year. When the ward boundaries were reorganised in 2002, all 58 seats were up for election.

District council election results since 2002

Further information: Epping Forest local elections and district council election results

The table below summarises the number of seats held by each party after each year's elections (no elections took place in 2005 and 2009). The council returned to Conservative control following the gain of a seat in a by-election in December 2006[6] after being under no overall control since 1994.

Party
2002
[7]
2003
[8]
2004
[9]
2006
[10]
2007
[11]
2008
[12]
2010
[13]
2011
[14]
2012
[15]
BNP
0
0
3
6
6
4
1
1
0
Conservative
26
23
26
29
32
33
35
37
39
Independent
4
4
5
4
3
5
2
3
2
Labour
9
9
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
Liberal Democrats
13
16
14
13
11
9
8
6
4
style="background: Template:Epping Forest Residents Association/meta/color" | Loughton Residents Association
6
6
6
5
5
6
11
10
12

List of places in Epping Forest district

References

  1. ^ Office of Public Sector Information - The Essex, Greater London and Hertfordshire (County and London Borough Boundaries) Order 1993. Retrieved on 23 February 2008.
  2. ^ Office of Public Sector Information - The Essex and Greater London (County Boundaries) Order 1993. Retrieved on 23 February 2008.
  3. ^ Epping Forest District Council - Transport
  4. ^ Stapleford Flight Centre website
  5. ^ Election Facts: Epping Forest District Council website
  6. ^ Grange Hill by-election result, Epping Forest District Council website. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  7. ^ Election 2002 results, BBC News website. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  8. ^ Election 2003 results, BBC News website. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  9. ^ Election 2004 results, BBC News website. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  10. ^ Election 2006 results, BBC News website. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  11. ^ Election 2007 results, BBC News website. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  12. ^ Election 2008 results, BBC News website. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  13. ^ Election 2010 results, BBC News website. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  14. ^ Election 2011 results, BBC News website. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  15. ^ Vote 2012 results, BBC News website. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
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