Protecting Epping Forest

Epping Forest is London’s largest open space, covering 2,400 hectares. Within it is the Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation and Sites of Special Scientific Interest, covering 1,600 hectares.  A Special Area of Conservation is a European designation given to areas of exceptional ecological value (as set out in Article 17 Habitats Directive 2019).   Sites of Special Scientific Interest are a conservation designation that protect areas that have been identified as being extremely valuable for their flora, fauna, physiological and geological features. Sites of Special Scientific interest often contain important habitats such as grasslands, parkland, woodland, ancient woodland and ancient trees.

The Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation comprises wood-pasture with habitats of high nature conservation value, including ancient semi-natural woodland, old grassland plains, wet and dry heathland and scattered wetland. The woodland is one of the largest continuous semi-natural blocks in the country, and the plains contain a variety of grasslands rarely found elsewhere in Essex or London. It also provides important habitats for invertebrates, amphibians and an exceptional breeding bird community. 

Epping Forest is  a popular visitor destination with around 4.2 to 4.8 million visits every year. It was entrusted to the City of London Corporation when they became Conservators of Epping Forest in 1878. As well as protecting its special nature conservation value, they are under a legal obligation to maintain public access for recreation and enjoyment. Whilst this is valuable to residents of Waltham Forest and the wider area, visits to the forest can put recreational pressures  its nature conservation value that need to be carefully managed. These include things like:

• Trampling/wear, leading to soil compaction, vegetation wear, erosion and damage to veteran tree roots
• Increased fire risk
• Direct damage to veteran trees
• Illegal harvesting of ecological features like fungi and deadwood (Please see City of London Article and Byelaws for more details)  
• Disturbance to invertebrates and other wildlife
• Spread of disease and alien plants
• Eutrophication from dog fouling
• Direct damage and vandalism of infrastructure

There is a “Zone of Influence” of 6.2km from the forest boundary within which it is considered that building new homes could result in more visits to the Special Area of Conservation, and as a result, more recreational pressure. This Zone of Influence covers the whole of Waltham Forest and significant proportions of our neighbouring boroughs and local authorities. 

At the same time, we also know that we need to deliver, on average, 1,800 new homes every year to meet the need for housing in the borough. We therefore need to put in place carefully balanced measures to avoid additional pressure on the forest as we build the new homes we need. In addition, new homes built within 400 metres of the Forest boundary are also considered likely to result in additional “urban effects”, like cat predation, intrusive lighting, invasive species, fly tipping and vandalism. The Waltham Forest Local Plan has identified the need to build 27,000 new homes in the Local Plan Period to 2038 to meet the local housing need. The delivery of these new homes needs to be balanced with protecting and enhancing the borough’s assets including Epping Forest.  As a result, planning applications for new homes within 400m of the forest boundary may need further measures in addition to those set out below. 

The borough-wide package of measures set out below has been developed with partner authorities who also border the forest, and agreed with Natural England. It applies to every single planning application that will result in one or more new home being built anywhere in the borough, including those proposed under Prior Approval. 

All planning applications that would create one or more new home(s) must include a project level Habitat Regulations Screening and Appropriate Assessment HRA Requirements. Applicants are asked to complete the appropriate template from the links below as fully as possible.

The type of Habitat Regulations Screening and Appropriate Assessment needed will depend on whether the development site falls within 400m boundary of the SAC or not.  Please click below for a map showing the extent of the 400m boundary, and the different HRA forms.

In order to mitigate recreational pressure in the forest, a Strategic Access Management and Monitoring Strategy has been developed in partnership and agreement with neighbouring authorities that are also within the Zone of Influence. This sets out a fully costed set of measures to be delivered in the forest itself, ranging from interventions like repairing and improving paths and trackways to employing forest wardens to help visitors enjoy the forest safely. 

All new homes built in the Zone of Influence will be required to make a financial contribution to the delivery of these measures. In Waltham Forest this equates to £627 for every new home built. This will be secured through Section 106 Legal Agreements associated with every planning consent we grant for one or more new homes and passed directly to the Conservators of Epping Forest. Waltham Forest is a member of the Technical Oversight Group of partner local authorities who will oversee the investment in the forest and ensure these financial contributions are spent as agreed. 

In order to avoid recreational pressure in the forest, we will continue to provide attractive alternative visitor destinations across the borough by investing in our existing natural green spaces and places and opening up others that do no currently benefit from public access. 

Waltham Forest is a uniquely green borough, and we benefit from some of the best open spaces in London. Just like Epping Forest, these offer great opportunities for our local communities to visit and enjoy.  You can read more about the proposals for further investment in our natural green spaces in the emerging Suitable Alterative Natural Greenspace strategy: 

As with the Strategic Access Management and Monitoring Strategy, every new home that is delivered in the borough is expected to contribute to this investment. In most cases, we anticipate this investment being made through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). This is a charge that we levy on new development in the borough to help deliver the infrastructure we need. It applies to most new buildings and the amount charged is based on the size and type of new floor space. 

Certain types of development can apply for CIL relief, which means they don’t have to pay the charge. In these cases, we will negotiate a bespoke investment package and secure it through a Section 106 Legal agreement to ensure that all new homes delivered in the borough are making a fair and proportionate contribution to the delivery of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces. 

You can read more about our CIL Charging in the link below:
 

Where a planning application is made for one or more new home(s) within 400m of the Epping Forest SAC boundary, they may be required to provide further mitigations to avoid Urban Effects. These will need to be agreed with Natural England and the Conservators of Epping Forest and will be negotiated through the planning process. 

You can see the Boundary of the Epping Forest SAC and the 400m zone on the map above. 

If you have any further questions or queries, please contact the Place and Design team by email: 

placeanddesignteam@walthamforest.gov.uk