Local Plan

All new residential development within the zones of influence of the Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation (SAC) will need to provide payment towards avoidance and mitigation measures in relation to recreational impact upon the SAC.

The London Borough of Redbridge will charge a fee of £255.84* per dwelling for all new residential development within the 6.2km Epping Forest SAC mitigation buffer, plus an appropriate administration fee. The fee will be determined depending on the type of application and the amount of residential units proposed.

An Epping Forest SAC Mitigation Payment Letter will be sent to applicants with further information.

Strategic Access Management Measures (SAMMs)

The Council has a legal duty to ensure that planning application decisions comply with the Habitats and Conservation of Species Regulations 2017 (as amended) to protect the integrity of Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Local Authorities falling within the recreational Zone of Influence are required to collect financial planning obligations for Strategic Access Management Measures (SAMMs) and Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANGs) measures to mitigate the harmful impacts by visitors to Epping Forest SAC.

The relevant Local Authorities, City of London Corporation & Conservators of Epping Forest and Natural England have developed a final SAMMs mitigation strategy and new payment tariff. This tariff incorporates the proportion of recreational pressure from visitors (from a 2019 visitor survey and future visitors from new residential developments) and forecasted housing figures. It also accounts for 80 years in perpetuity costs for the SAMMs measures.

Following Cabinet approval on 8 March 2022, the Council is applying  the Epping Forest SAC SAMMs tariff of £255.84* per new unit across the 0-6.2km Zone of Influence of Epping Forest in Redbridge, in addition to an administration fee (see below). The tariff is applicable to decisions for all new residential units approved (on grant of planning permission) from 1 April 2022 onwards.

The administration fee is currently £90 per application, however for major developments where the SAMMs payments are secured via S106 agreements, a monitoring administration fee is applied which is 5% of the chargeable amount of the Epping Forest SAC, or £90, whichever is higher. This administration fee is added to the S106 Monitoring Fee to cover the cost of monitoring and reporting on delivery of that Section 106 obligation. The administration fee may be reviewed by the Council in the future.

*The tariff is subject to annual inflation and change following annual review.

Additional Information

Cabinet report

Supplementary Information to Cabinet report

Final draft governance agreement

Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANGs)

The Council currently requires major developments over 100 units which fall within the 0 – 6.2km Zone of Influence to pay for a package of SANGs measures within Redbridge.

For further information, please see Redbridge's Planning Obligations SPD (PDF 4.0 MB)

The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) was adopted in 2020 and is our guide to developers, planners, and the community on how we consult and engage with different stateholders during different stages in the planning process, including plan making and planning applications; and also includes information on neighbourhood planning and planning enforcement.

Statement of Community Involvement (December 2020) (PDF 5.9 MB)

The Government has introduced a Housing Delivery Test (HDT) with the intention of holding local authorities to account for under-delivery of housing. This compares the housing delivery over a three-year period to the cumulative housing target over that period, as set out in the Housing Delivery Test Rule Book.

Housing Delivery Test Action Plan (May 2022) (PDF 1.5 MB)

Housing Delivery Test Action Plan (July 2021) (PDF 266 KB)

Housing Delivery Test Action Plan (August 2020) (PDF 980 KB)

Housing Delivery Test Action Plan (January 2019) (PDF 4.5 MB)

In the process of preparing documents for our development plan, we collect information and monitor the effectiveness of our policies. We publish the results in an Authority Monitoring Report (AMR), which shows key statistics and the progress of producing and implementing planning policy.

Authority Monitoring Report 2021-22 (PDF 7.3MB)

Authority Monitoring Report 2020-21 (PDF 7.2MB)

Authority Monitoring Report 2019-20 (PDF 1.8MB)

Authority Monitoring Report 2018-19 (PDF 568KB)

Authority Monitoring Report 2017-18 (PDF 474KB)

In March 2020 we published a new Local Development Scheme (PDF 967KB). This is a three year working plan that sets out the planning policy documents the council will produce, including a timetable for their preparation. It allows the community and stakeholders to find out about the council's future intentions for planning of the borough.

 In addition to Redbridge's local adopted documents, there are other national and governmental documents that provide over-arching guidance for the preparation of local plans and decisions on planning applications.