London loves Epping Forest
As Londoner’s go to the polls to decide who will be their Mayor and their GLA representatives all candidates should remember one thing: Londoners Love Epping Forest.
Epping Forest takes care of Londoners in so many ways. This ancient Forest is situated in the boroughs of Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest, enhances localities including Manor Park, Leyton, Wanstead, and Chingford, and borders huge parts of North and East London. The Forest has been nicknamed ‘London’s lungs’ for the way it helps to maintain the very air that we breathe.
The Forest also helps us to tackle climate change by acting as a heat sink and reducing temperatures.
Epping Forest is at the heart of our history too – as a city and as a nation. It houses iron age camps and Queen Elizabeth’s Tudor Hunting Lodge.
It has trees that have witnessed the last thousand years, ancient woodland pastures and rare stag beetles, which mean the Forest is designated as a Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Representing the start of the conservation movement, the Forest has been protected since the 1878 Epping Forest Act, which recognised the vital natural space it provides for Londoners to enjoy. The Act made the City of London Corporation its Conservator.
Epping Forest currently attracts over 10 million visitors a year. Generation after generation of London families have grown up knowing the Forest was a place of peace and respite from busy city living; a place where they could walk, cycle, play and exercise freely.
No wonder so many of us love it.
But despite all this, the Forest is under threat as never before. Climate change, adjacent development and air pollution threaten this vital resource. Lack of affordable public transport options, cycling and walking routes, threaten access to it. This is why it needs all Londoners – and in particular their representatives – to step up and champion it.
These candidates have already pledged to become the Champion of the Forest – find out more here.
Will you sign up to be a champion of the Forest?
The Mayor and the London Assembly have a unique role to play in championing the things that matter to Londoners. We need Champions to step forward and give Epping Forest the voice it does not have and to protect it for generations to come. That is why we are asking candidates in the London elections to pledge to be ‘Champions of Epping Forest’.
As an Epping Forest Champion you can demonstrate your love for the Forest by:
Championing it as a vital green space:
- Speaking up for the Forest as an important environmental, cultural and heritage site
- Promoting the Forest’s vital role as a Green Lung of London, helping to reduce air pollution
- Recognising the Forest as an essential contributor to tackling climate change
- Celebrating the Forest’s biodiversity, and its role as a vital recreational space for the health and wellbeing of Londoners.
Championing Access to the Forest:
- Encouraging better access to it by ensuring plentiful, safe, sustainable transport links; enabling walking, cycling and public transport
- Supporting engagement with local communities in the Forest to help tackle social, health and environmental inequalities.
Championing its Protection:
- Calling for air quality standards to be met around the Forest to protects its trees, plants, fungi and lichen, and increase its biodiversity
- Calling for action on the climate emergency to protect the Forest from more serious damage from climate change.
- Advocating for resources to ensure the Forest is properly conserved and enhanced for generations to come.
How you can help as a Londoner?
1. Show your love
Put #LoveEppingForest posters in your windows. Spread the word about this campaign. Talk to your friends, families, and communities. Help raise awareness and profile of Epping Forest!
2. Ask your local candidates to sign up to be a Champion of Epping Forest
Ask your local candidates to sign up to be a Champion of the Forest. They can sign-up electronically from this page, or can use the print-ready poster.
3. Volunteer with us
If you are interested in supporting our planning and advocacy work, including keeping an eye out for planning / development information, please email us at: policy@efht.org.uk
Download poster
Download print-ready #LoveEppingForest posters (A4 size) to put on your windows. You can also use the back of the poster to ask your candidate to sign up to be the Champion of the Forest
Pledges
All these candidates have pledged to become a Champion of the Forest