About Waltham Forest Local Plan
The Waltham Forest Local Plan is a planning policy document, published in two parts by Waltham Forest Council. Its intention is to help ensure development within the borough is in line with local government and national government priorities. Given Waltham Forest’s importance to the Forest, we have keenly monitored the progress of the Plan and participated in several of the public consultations which helped shape it.
March 2026 update: Main Modifications
An independent planning inspector publishes a list of recommended modifications (“Main Modifications”) to ensure that the Plan is “Sound.”
The Inspector’s Report: the positives
A key issue at stake is Strategic Access Management and Mitigation (SAMM). Waltham Forest’s Local Plan will enable a flurry of development, including around 30,300 homes by 2035. SAMM is a collaborative strategy between the City of London Corporation, Natural England and Forest-adjacent local authorities. It intends to mitigate the impacts of this development by levying funds for path and infrastructure repair, alongside delivering of awareness campaigns within the Forest.
Given that large portions of the Forest, including areas in Waltham Forest like Chingford Plain and Highams Park Forest, are part of the Forest’s “Special Area of Conservation” (SAC), mitigating harm to these areas is a requirement by the 2017 Habitats Regulations. SAMM, specifically, tackles the impacts that come with increased footfall, caused by the increase in population brought by new developments in the borough.
Waltham Forest Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG)
Crucially and positively, the Inspector has reaffirmed the need to reevaluate SAMM and introduce “SAMM+” to ensure these measures are fit for purpose. SAMM+ measures came about through collaborative work between the City of London, Natural England and Waltham Forest borough specifically. They reflect more expansive conditions of SAMM, addressing the “urban effects” of developments within 400m of the Forest’s SAC boundaries (like the upcoming 1,500 home development in Whipps Cross). These effects include cat predation, intrusive lighting, invasive species, fly tipping and vandalism. The Inspector has recommended specific measures for those developments to mitigate these impacts, including the avoiding of pesticides as part of garden maintenance and the establishment of green buffers.
Although we maintain a concern that strategies like SAMM are designed to mitigate rather than prevent harm to the Forest from development, we are glad to see a recommendation for SAMM+ spending on paths which, acting as fire breaks, will form part of the City of London’s fire management plan for Leyton Flats/Hollow Ponds. We hope this represents a commitment from the Waltham Forest to work with the City to proactively tackle the environmental issues created by factors like climate change.
SANGs: an ongoing concern
A key concern of EFHT’s is the Plan’s placement of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) in the borough. SANGs, like SAMM, are another mitigation measure for protected areas. They represent allocations of publicly accessible greenspace which serve as an alternative for public recreation, therefore reducing footfall within sensitive habitats.
The concerns about the proposed SANGs within the 2024 consultation phase are ongoing. Namely, the proposed SANGs are largely on the western side of the Borough and so would not offer practical alternatives to residents living on the eastern side who would be more likely to use the Forest. The potential impact of this oversight is two-fold. Not only does it risk increased footfall within the Forest, but it also risks muffling the potentially positive impacts of SAMM+. For instance, SAMM+’s proposed provision of “direct access to adjacent SANGs” is undermined if the SANGs aren’t within a feasible distance to enable these provisions.
The new council
Now the Inspector has published their report, Waltham Forest Council is responsible for implementing their proposed modifications and voting to adopt the plan. As of last May’s local elections, a new Council, Green-led, has inherited this responsibility.
Although the location of SANGs is unlikely to change. The Council will nevertheless have the power to ensure that development takes place sustainably and pro-nature policies are enacted alongside it.
We are optimistic that this council will take these positive steps forward. 24 out of the 60 councillors, including both Co-Leaders, signed up to our #LoveEppingForest Manifesto 2026. This includes the first of the Manifesto’s nine pledges: to “put the Forest’s wildlife, culture and heritage at the heart of Planning policies and decisions.”
On top of this, concerns for greenspace formed a key part of the Green manifesto itself. The party supports a “right to local nature,” a key principle which ought to address current inequitable access to Epping Forest. They also seek to “champion nature and tackle biodiversity loss.” This can be done through going above and beyond the mitigations set out by the Local Plan, creating and restoring more local green space around Epping Forest, both for public recreation and for nature recovery.
For now, we continue to monitor development applications as they arise and scrutinise the policies of the Council. We also intend to work with the Council to contribute to future strategies, including those due to emerge from last year’s nature emergency declaration.
October 2024: Local Plan Part 2 Introduced
Waltham Forest introduces Part 2 of their Local Plan, which outlines specific site allocations within which the borough wants to encourage development, alongside more details about the location of mitigation measures like Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces (SANGs). SANGs are publicly accessible greenspaces which are designed to provide an attractive alternative for people wanting to visit the Forest, therefore relieving footfall in Epping Forest.
We participated in the public consultation process. Amongst our concerns is that the proposed SANGs are all concentrated in the west of the borough, far from the developments around Epping Forest, and therefore would not be suitable alternatives for those new residents.
October 2020: Local Plan Part 1 Published
Waltham Forest Council publishes its Local Plan Part 1, detailing the borough’s overall development strategy over a 15 year period. This includes housing targets (a minimum of 27,000 new homes in response to the projected population increase from 277,000 to 328,000 by 2035) and the policies by which development ought to be guided, including environmental and ecological mitigation. Read our brief on Part 1 here.