Epping Forest & Commons Committee

About Epping Forest & Commons Committee

The Epping Forest and Commons Committee is the City of London Corporation’s committee responsible for oversight of the management of Epping Forest. It oversees strategy, conservation, land management, finance and public access within the Forest. It meets every two months to make decisions about the Forest. All of the papers can be found here.

We are not members of the Committee but feed in our views to Committee members when necessary, and are also a member of the Epping Forest Consultative Committee through which the Corporation consults on some of its future plans.

Meeting briefs and links

29th June 2026, 2pm

Verderer Elections notifications will be published in June, with invitations to “Commoners” to stand. The Verderer positions are four elected roles, dating back to the Middle Ages and formalised, more recently, in the 1878 Epping Forest Act. The four verderers sit on the Epping Forest & Commons Committee. To vote in the upcoming verderer elections, “commoners” have to own or occupy more than half an acre of old enclosure not covered with buildings within the ancient boundary of Epping Forest.

An update was given about the Epping Forest Act 150th anniversary programme. An internal meeting was held, with detailed planning for the Parliamentary reception as the immediate priority and strategic launch event. A broad programme of activities from 2026–2028 was outlined, though many elements remain dependent on funding.

The original 2025/2026 original budget for Epping Forest was approved for net increases of 141k, resulting in a final net expenditure budget of £8.935m. One of the reasons for the total gross income of 2025/2026 being 944k greater than the final budget was due to the 348k additional income from grants and contributions received from local authorities from the SAMMS to mitigate the impact of developments around the Forest.

It was announced that “Officer recommendations” are to merge the Visitor Management and Transport Strategies announced in November 2025. The new proposal is to embed visitor travel and arrival considerations, into the Visitor Management Strategy, rather than a separate transport strategy.

Watch recording: Epping Forest & Commons Committee – Monday 29 June, 2026.

View agenda items: Agenda for Epping Forest & Commons Committee on Monday, 29th June, 2026, 2.00 pm – Modern Council

24th March 2026, 2pm

The most important Agenda Item concerned the Complementary Lands (formerly the Buffer Lands) and contained an update on the “Natural Environment Charities Complementary Land Use Assessment”. This report, previously announced, contains a survey of the potential sources of income generation and an accompanying strategy for use of the land However, this was in the non-public agenda so no details of the discussion are publicly available.

Other updates include…

A pine marten feasibility study is ongoing, as well as a veteran pollard tree study by UCL.

It was announced that Historic England has done a survey at the Amesbury iron age camp, with another survey planned for the winter at Loughton Camp. A report will follow.

Money from Strategic Access Monitoring and Mitigations (SAMM), a scheme to mitigate the impact of local developments by funding visitor infrastructure and community engagement in Epping Forest, is projected to amount to £146k for 2025/2026. Currently, this is part-funding more ground maintenance works, including tree and path works.

It was announced that elections for Forest Verderers will take place no later than 20th March 2027. These are positions for four roles, dating back to the Middle Ages and formalised, more recently, in the 1878 Epping Forest Act. The four verderers sit on the Epping Forest & Commons Committee. To vote in the upcoming verderer elections, “commoners” have to own or occupy more than half an acre of old enclosure not covered with buildings within the ancient boundary of Epping Forest.

Watch recording: Epping Forest & Commons Committee – Tuesday 24 March 2026.

View Agenda Items: Agenda for Epping Forest & Commons Committee on Tuesday, 24th March, 2026, 11.00 am – Modern Council

26th March 2026, 2pm

The most important Agenda Item concerned the Complementary Lands (formerly the Buffer Lands) and involved a discussion about the “Natural Environment Charities Complementary Land Use Assessment”. This report, previously announced in 2025, contains a survey of the potential sources of income generation and an accompanying strategy for use of the land However, this was in the non-public agenda so no details of the discussion are publicly available.

Other updates include…

Epping Forest Visitor Guide will be published soon, and this will be an annual Guide to the Forest

Beaver feasibility work [see the Carbon Removals Project Report for the Jan 2025 EF&CC meeting] has been discontinued. The funds put aside for this have been diverted to a feasibility study of wetland/wet woodland creation near Rookery Wood. External funding will also be sought for this project. the work itself would be over 1 year away.