London Borough of Redbridge


The London Borough of Redbridge is a London borough in East London, England.
Its administrative headquarters is at Redbridge Town Hall in Ilford. Wanstead and Woodford are the other principal settlements. The local authority is Redbridge London Borough Council.

Etymology

The name comes from a bridge over the River Roding which was demolished in 1921. The bridge was made of red brick, unlike other bridges in the area made of white stone. The name had first been applied to the Redbridge area and Redbridge tube station was opened in 1947. It was earlier known as Hocklee's Bridge.

Places of interest

Parks and open spaces

Redbridge has more than 35 parks, playgrounds and open spaces. These include Hainault Forest Country Park, with 300 acres of countryside including adventure play areas, cafe and petting zoo. Roding Valley Park, a wildlife sanctuary with a wide range of flora and fauna and woodland areas to explore. Fairlop Waters Country Park, which offers a huge range of activities both on and off the water. The award-winning Valentines Park, situated next to the beautiful Valentines Mansion, ornamental gardens, bowling green and outdoor gym among other attractions. Claybury Woods and Park, a conservation area that features and ancient area of oak and hornbeam woodland, meadows and wildlife ponds.

Arts and culture

is a Georgian country house and gardens in the grounds of Valentines Park, Ilford.
Kenneth More Theatre in Oakfield Road, Ilford opened in 1975.
Redbridge Museum, which opened in 2000, is situated in on the second floor of Redbridge Central Library, Clements Road, Ilford.
Redbridge Heritage Centre is situated on the second floor of Redbridge Central Library, Clements Road, Ilford.

Libraries

Redbridge has 13 libraries across the borough. This includes the Redbridge Central Library, in Clements Road, Ilford, which had a major refurbishment in 2012. The libraries offer a number of services including reading clubs, story time sessions, study areas and learning resources. The libraries in Redbridge are:
Redbridge has a number of sports and leisure facilities including the road and off-road cycling tracks at Redbridge Cycling Centre.
There are two local football teams both playing in the Isthmian League Division One: Redbridge F.C. and Ilford FC. In addition there is fellow Non-League football club Barkingside F.C. who play at The Oakside stadium.
Redbridge's Valentines Park in Ilford acted as one of Essex County Cricket Club's home grounds in 1923-4 and from 1935 until 2002, when the club stopped playing there due to financial constraints.
Redbridge is home to several Scouting districts and Groups. One such group is 4th Goodmayes Scout Group.

Geography

Demographics

In 2011 the population of Redbridge was recorded at 278,970. In common with the other London boroughs this continues a period of growth; between the 1991 and 2001 censuses the increase was 7.5% with a further rise of 15.3% by 2011. Redbridge has the third highest proportion of children and a higher-than-average proportion of older adults while the proportion of working age adults is slightly lower than average. The population density was last recorded at 4,945 residents per km2 .
The healthy life expectancy at birth for Redbridge residents stands at 65.5 years for males and 62.4 years for females.
Redbridge is one of the most ethnically diverse local authorities in the UK. 34% of respondents to the 2011 census stated that they were born outside the UK and 65.5% identified as belonging to an ethnic group other than white British. Redbridge's largest ethnic group is White British, followed by Indian, and Pakistani.

Ethnic and religious change

In common with many London boroughs, the most recent census showed notable ethnic and religious population mobility in Redbridge. Ethnic groups whose proportions fell in Redbridge were White British, Irish, and Caribbean. Ethnic groups whose proportions rose include Pakistani, other Asians, Bangladeshis, and other White . Religious groups whose proportions fell in Redbridge were Christian and Jews. For Jews this represented a fall of over 50% of their number in some wards. Religious groups whose proportions rose include Muslims followed by Hindu.

Ethnicity

Educated 30-40-year-old British-born Asian residents of Redbridge, who participated in a 2012 academic research project.

Religion

According to the 2011 Census, the largest religious groupings are Christians, followed by Muslims, Hindus, those of no religion, no response, Sikhs, Jews, Buddhists and other.
The number of Christians residing in Redbridge ranked fourth lowest in England and Wales, and 12 percent below the London average of 48.4%. The number of Muslims in Redbridge has more than doubled since 2001.

Transport

Walking and cycling

The Roding Valley Way is a designated walking and cycling route between Woodford and Ilford.

TfL Rail

RouteFrequency
Shenfield to London Liverpool Street6 trains per hour

StationImageOpenedNotes
Ilford20 06 1839
Seven Kings 1 4 1899
Goodmayes18 2 1901
Chadwell Heath 11 1 1864

These services serving these stations will be rebranded from TfL Rail to Elizabeth Line in late 2020.

London Underground

Central line: Epping Branch.
StationImageOpenedNotes
Snaresbrook14 12 1947First opened by the Eastern Counties Railway in 1856
South Woodford 14 12 1947First opened by the Eastern Counties Railway as South Woodford in 1856; renamed 1947
Woodford 14 12 1947First opened by the Eastern Counties Railway in 1856. Terminus of Hainault Loop

Central line: Hainault Loop
StationImageOpenedNotes
Wanstead14 12 1947
Redbridge14 12 1947
Gants Hill14 12 1947
Newbury Park 14 12 1947First opened by the Great Eastern Railway in 1903
Barkingside31 05 1948First opened by the Great Eastern Railway in 1903
Fairlop31 05 1948First opened by the Great Eastern Railway in 1903
Hainault 31 05 1948First opened by the Great Eastern Railway in 1903. Closed 1908 to 1930.
Grange Hill21 11 1948First opened by the Great Eastern Railway in 1903

Buses

Numerous London buses run through and within the borough.

Travel to work

In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: driving a car or van, 23.5% all residents aged 16–74; underground, metro, light rail, tram, 18.4%; train, 6.2%; bus, minibus or coach, 4.6%; on foot, 3.7%; work mainly at or from home, 2.6%; passenger in a car or van, 1.5%.

History

The borough was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963 as a merger of the former area of:
on Ilford High Road
Former local government districtPopulation
Municipal Borough of Ilford178,024
Municipal Borough of Wanstead and Woodford61,416
northern part of the Municipal Borough of Dagenham around Hog Hill3,569
south eastern part of Chigwell Urban District around Hainault7,071

All of which had been transferred from Essex to Greater London by the Act.

Destruction of Hainault Forest

An act of parliament in 1851 permitted the virtual destruction of Hainault Forest and 92% of the forest was cut down using machines specially designed for the task. The loss of this habitat outraged public opinion far beyond the local area. The naturalist Oliver Rackham argued that this led to the creation of the modern British conservation movement with the creation of organisations which successfully opposed such a fate happening to Epping Forest, which only lost around 10% of its area.

Awards

In November 2018, Redbridge Council was reported as the sixth-most productive council in England overall and the most productive in provision of adult social care in a report published by the public service consultancy iMPOWER.

Redbridge London Borough Council

Summary of Council results:

Education

Redbridge Council is the Local Education Authority. The Borough has the accolade of sending more young people to university than any other borough in the country in both 2011 and 2012. GCSE and A Level results are consistently higher than the Country's average. A 2017 report by and the found that Redbridge has the highest proportion of 19 year olds with Level 3 qualifications of any London borough.
All schools in the borough take part in the Redbridge Schools Choral Festival, a bi-annual music festival held in the Royal Albert Hall in Knightsbridge.

Gallery