London Borough of Havering | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms  Council logo | |
| Motto: Liberty | |
 Havering shown withinGreater London | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Constituent country | England |
| Region | London |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Created | 1 April 1965 |
| Admin HQ | Romford |
| Government | |
| • Type | London borough council |
| • Body | Havering London Borough Council |
| • London Assembly | Keith Prince AM forHavering and Redbridge |
| • MPs | Margaret Mullane (Lab) Andrew Rosindell (Con) Julia Lopez (Con) |
| Area | |
• Total | 43.35 sq mi (112.27 km2) |
| • Rank | 184th(of 296) |
| Population (2024) | |
• Total | 276,274 |
| • Rank | 65th(of 296) |
| • Density | 6,373.4/sq mi (2,460.8/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Postcodes | |
| Area codes | 01708,020 |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-HAV |
| ONS code | 00AR |
| GSS code | E09000016 |
| Police | Metropolitan Police |
| Website | www |
TheLondon Borough of Havering (/ˈheɪvərɪŋ/ ⓘ) inEast London, England, forms part ofOuter London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town isRomford, while other communities includeHornchurch,Upminster,Collier Row andRainham. The borough is mainly suburban, with large areas ofprotected open space. Romford is a major retail and night time entertainment centre, and to the south the borough extends into theLondon Riverside redevelopment area of theThames Gateway.[1] The name Havering is a reference to theRoyal Liberty of Havering which occupied the area for several centuries. The local authority isHavering London Borough Council. It is the easternmost London borough.
The neighbouring districts (clockwise from south) are the London boroughs ofBexley (across theRiver Thames),Barking and Dagenham andRedbridge, theEssex districts ofEpping Forest andBrentwood, and theunitary authority ofThurrock, also in Essex.
Modern settlement originated inAnglo-Saxon times when it consisted ofHavering Palace and the surrounding lands that belonged to the king. The palace itself is known to have existed since at least the reign ofEdward the Confessor when it was one of his primary residences. The area formed aliberty from 1465 which included the parishes of Havering-atte-Bower, Hornchurch and Romford.
The name Havering appears in documents from around the 12th century. The origins of this name have been debated by historians since theMiddle Ages when it was linked to the legend ofEdward the Confessor and a mystical ring returned to him by SaintJohn the Apostle. This event has been commemorated in stained glass (from about 1407) in a chapel at Romford dedicated to the king.[2]
London Underground and fastrail services tocentral London resulted in considerable residential land use mixed with designated parklands and farmland under the planning policy of the predecessor local authorities and current authority during the 20th century and into the early 21st century.
The development of the borough came in two distinct phases. The firstmiddle class suburban developments were built in the late Victorian and Edwardian period. The garden suburbs of Upminster, Emerson Park and Gidea Park (also known as Romford Garden Suburb) were spurred on by the building of the railway lines through Havering from Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street in the late 19th century.
In the 1930s the District Line was electrified and extended to Upminster with new stations atElm Park andUpminster Bridge. Also at this time new industries near the area such as theFord Motor Company plant atDagenham caused a new wave of mostlyworking class developments along the route of the new Underground line. In addition to this, to the north of the borough, the large housing estates ofHarold Hill andCollier Row were constructed to deal with the chronic housing shortages and earlyslum clearance programmes in central London.
The borough was created in 1965 under theLondon Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the formerMunicipal Borough of Romford andHornchurch Urban District. The area was transferred fromEssex to Greater London to become one of the 32 London Boroughs.[3]
Romford had been alocal board district from 1851.[4] It was converted into anurban district in 1894, was enlarged in 1934 to take in the neighbouring parishes ofHavering-atte-Bower andNoak Hill, and was incorporated to become amunicipal borough in 1937.[5]
The parish ofHornchurch had been made an urban district in 1926, which was enlarged in 1934 to take in the parishes ofCranham,Great Warley,Rainham,Upminster andWennington.[6]
The new borough was named after the formerRoyal Liberty of Havering, which had covered a similar area.
This pattern of the 'garden suburb' with inter- and post-war private housing developments occurred widely across the borough, with small estates ofsocial housing representing a low percentage of housing in any single council ward; six of the 30electoral wards with fewer than 2% social housing are in the borough: Hylands, Mawneys, Pettits, Hacton and the two wards formingUpminster, Cranham and Upminster Ward.[7] Plans to extend existing developments in much of the borough are blocked as open land is protected as part of theMetropolitan Green Belt. In contrast, the southern part of Havering adjacent to the Thames is within theLondon Riverside section of theThames Gateway redevelopment area. New open spaces and large scale house building to provide an entirely new residential community is planned.
The most built-up areas are the traditional garden suburb districts ofHornchurch,Emerson Park,Gidea Park,Harold Wood,Romford andUpminster. These places have developed over the last hundred years to form a large area of continuousurban sprawl with indistinct boundaries.
A 2017 study found that, when comparing low-end rent to low-end earnings, private rented housing in Havering is the most affordable of any London borough.[8]
Named neighbourhoods are the developments ofArdleigh Green,Chase Cross,Collier Row,Elm Park,Harold Hill,Rainham. The borough'sexurbs withgreen buffers of farmland or parkland are:
The local authority is Havering Council, based atHavering Town Hall (formerly Romford Town Hall) in Romford.[9]
Havering elects 55 councillors from 20 wards:[10]
For elections to theGreater London Council, the borough formed theHavering electoral division, electing three members. In 1973 it was divided into the single-memberHornchurch,Romford andUpminster electoral divisions.[11] The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986.
Since 2000, for elections to theLondon Assembly, the borough forms part of theHavering and Redbridge constituency.
Until 2010 the borough was split between theparliamentary constituencies ofHornchurch,Romford andUpminster with the three constituencies entirely within the borough. At the2010 United Kingdom general election, the boundaries of these constituencies changed to a newHornchurch and Upminster constituency and Rainham became part of the new cross-boroughDagenham and Rainham constituency.
In 2011, the borough had a population of 237,232[12] over 43 square miles (111.4 km2). Havering has a lower population density than other London Boroughs as large areas are parkland and 23 square miles (60 km2) (more than half the borough) isMetropolitan Green Belt protected land. Those areas of development are extensive but rarely intensive. It has, at 4.5%, a below average unemployment rate for Greater London,[13] and one of the lowest crime rates.
Havering has a significantly higher proportion of residents in white ethnic groups than other outer London boroughs (87.7% –2011 census). The Black African population is the most significant minority ethnic group in Havering (3.2%). The Upminster ward of the borough is the third least ethnically diverse in Greater London, with aSimpson's diversity index of 1.10.[14]
| Ethnic Group | Year | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 estimations[15] | 1981 estimations[16] | 1991 census[17] | 2001 census[18] | 2011 census[19] | 2021 census[20] | |||||||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| White: Total | – | 99.1% | 232,585 | 97.6% | 222,168 | 96.8% | 213,421 | 95.2% | 207,949 | 87.7% | 197,314 | 75.3% |
| White:British | – | – | – | – | – | – | 206,365 | 92% | 197,615 | 83.3% | 174,232 | 66.5% |
| White:Irish | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3,390 | 1.5% | 2,989 | 1.3% | 2,894 | 1.1% |
| White:Gypsy or Irish Traveller | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 160 | – | 259 | 0.1% |
| White: Roma | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 433 | 0.2% |
| White:Other | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3,666 | 1.6% | 7,185 | 3% | 19,496 | 7.4% |
| Asian or Asian British: Total | – | – | – | – | 4,266 | 1.85% | 4,974 | 2.2% | 11,545 | 4.8% | 28,150 | 10.8% |
| Asian or Asian British:Indian | – | – | – | – | 2,437 | 1.1% | 2,756 | 1.2% | 5,017 | 2.1% | 11,292 | 4.3% |
| Asian or Asian British:Pakistani | – | – | – | – | 369 | 0.2% | 457 | 0.2% | 1,492 | 0.6% | 5,683 | 2.2% |
| Asian or Asian British:Bangladeshi | – | – | – | – | 181 | – | 216 | – | 975 | 0.4% | 4,774 | 1.8% |
| Asian or Asian British:Chinese | – | – | – | – | 822 | 0.3% | 886 | 0.4% | 1,459 | 0.6% | 2,011 | 0.8% |
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | – | – | – | – | 457 | 0.2% | 659 | 0.3% | 2,602 | 1.1% | 4,390 | 1.7% |
| Black or Black British: Total | – | – | – | – | 2,166 | 0.94% | 3,139 | 1.4% | 11,481 | 4.8% | 21,567 | 8.2% |
| Black or Black British:African | – | – | – | – | 392 | 0.2% | 1,377 | 0.6% | 7,581 | 3.2% | 14,138 | 5.4% |
| Black or Black British:Caribbean | – | – | – | – | 1,297 | 0.6% | 1,554 | 0.7% | 2,885 | 1.2% | 4,832 | 1.8% |
| Black or Black British:Other Black | – | – | – | – | 477 | 0.2% | 208 | – | 1,015 | 0.4% | 2,597 | 1.0% |
| Mixed or British Mixed: Total | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,298 | 1% | 4,933 | 2.1% | 9,747 | 3.7% |
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | – | – | – | – | – | – | 827 | 0.4% | 1,970 | 0.8% | 3,224 | 1.2% |
| Mixed: White and Black African | – | – | – | – | – | – | 226 | 0.1% | 712 | 0.3% | 1,535 | 0.6% |
| Mixed: White and Asian | – | – | – | – | – | – | 705 | 0.3% | 1,154 | 0.5% | 2,344 | 0.9% |
| Mixed: Other Mixed | – | – | – | – | – | – | 540 | 0.2% | 1,097 | 0.5% | 2,644 | 1.0% |
| Other: Total | – | – | – | – | 892 | 0.38% | 416 | 0.2% | 1,324 | 0.6% | 5,274 | 2% |
| Other: Arab | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 311 | 0.1% | 809 | 0.3% |
| Other: Any other ethnic group | – | – | – | – | 892 | 0.38% | 416 | 0.2% | 1,013 | 0.4% | 4465 | 1.7% |
| Ethnic minority: Total | – | 0.9% | 5,662 | 2.4% | 7,324 | 3.17% | 10,827 | 5.8% | 29,283 | 12.3 | 64,738 | 24.7% |
| Total | – | 100% | 238,247 | 100% | 229,492 | 100% | 224,248 | 100% | 237,232 | 100% | 262,052 | 100% |
The following table shows the religious identity of residents residing in Havering.
| Religion | 2021[21] | |
|---|---|---|
| Number | % | |
| Christian | 136,765 | 52.2 |
| Muslim | 16,135 | 6.2 |
| Jewish | 1,305 | 0.5 |
| Hindu | 6,454 | 2.5 |
| Sikh | 4,498 | 1.7 |
| Buddhism | 1,092 | 0.4 |
| Other religion | 1,056 | 0.4 |
| No religion | 80,235 | 30.6 |
| Religion not stated | 14,512 | 5.5 |
| Total | 262,052 | 100.0 |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1801 | 6,370 | — |
| 1811 | 7,028 | +10.3% |
| 1821 | 8,198 | +16.6% |
| 1831 | 9,036 | +10.2% |
| 1841 | 10,696 | +18.4% |
| 1851 | 11,492 | +7.4% |
| 1861 | 12,850 | +11.8% |
| 1871 | 14,208 | +10.6% |
| 1881 | 15,566 | +9.6% |
| 1891 | 19,041 | +22.3% |
| 1901 | 24,853 | +30.5% |
| 1911 | 32,439 | +30.5% |
| 1921 | 49,681 | +53.2% |
| 1931 | 76,092 | +53.2% |
| 1941 | 119,292 | +56.8% |
| 1951 | 187,022 | +56.8% |
| 1961 | 215,404 | +15.2% |
| 1971 | 248,107 | +15.2% |
| 1981 | 239,769 | −3.4% |
| 1991 | 232,491 | −3.0% |
| 2001 | 224,248 | −3.5% |
| 2011 | 237,232 | +5.8% |
| 2021 | 262,052 | +10.5% |
| Note:[22] | ||
There are over 7,000 businesses based in Havering. Romford is the maincommercial hub of the borough with a small district of mainly office development close to the railway station. There is also someindustry to the south betweenRainham and theRiver Thames such as Rainham Steel headquarters on the boundary of Elm Park. Light industry elsewhere in the borough has been in decline, with major employers such as the formerStar Brewery now closed down.[23] New industrial development in the south of the borough has been encouraged by theLondon Development Agency (nowGLA Land and Property), with the opening of theCentre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence.
The main retail district is also located in Romford with several interconnected or neighbouring shopping arcades including theLiberty Shopping Centre, theMercury Mall, and theBrewery.Romford Market is located to the north of Romford and is the largest market within the borough and in the surrounding area. Hornchurch and Upminster are the other main retail centres with extensive high street shopping areas.
Romford has a developed night-time economy with one of the highest concentrations of bars and nightclubs anywhere in Greater London outside theWest End with public transport radiating into all parts of the borough.
Havering London Borough Council applied to the Government to allow a 'super-casino' to be built in the south of the borough,[24] however the application was rejected in May 2006.[25]
TheM25 motorway forms part of the borough boundary to the east withNorth Ockendon the only settlement to fall outside. TheA12 (nearRomford) and theA13 (nearRainham) are the main trunk radial routes from central London and are located to the north and south of the borough respectively. TheA127 trunk route to Southend begins atGallows Corner; which also forms the eastern end of theA118 local artery from Stratford. TheA124 local artery from Canning Town terminates at Upminster.
TheDistrict line of theLondon Underground runs roughly east–west through the middle of the borough and there is an extensive network ofLondon Bus routes, linking all districts to Romford and other places beyond the borough.[26] TheLondon, Tilbury & Southend line (operated byc2c) passes through the borough in two places and theGreat Eastern Main Line (GEML) passes through the north of the borough servingRomford, Gidea Park and Harold Wood.Elizabeth line runs stopping services via the GEML, andGreater Anglia operate non-stop services running straight through these stations. There is also abranch line fromRomford toUpminster which is currently operated byLondon Overground. There are proposals for transport improvements in the south of the borough where the population is expected to rise.
In May 2015, stopping services operated byAbellio Greater Anglia at the time, were replaced byTransport for London's new railway service,TfL Rail. These services ran newClass 345 trains, and occasionally some olderClass 315 services. In May 2022, TfL Rail was rebranded asElizabeth line, and all Class 315 trains were scrapped.
In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: driving a car or van, 31.8% of all residents aged 16–74; train, 11.9%; underground, metro, light rail, tram, 6.3%; bus, minibus or coach, 5.1%; on foot, 4.1%; work mainly at or from home, 2.4%; passenger in a car or van, 2.1%.[27]
The local newspapers in Havering are The Havering Daily and theRomford Recorder.
Bedrock Radio[28] is a charity run community health &Hospital radio station located within theQueen's Hospital inRomford.
The firstHospital Radio Service In Havering began broadcasting in 1964 as Harold Wood Radio.[29]Today, Bedrock Radio serves the community by broadcasting online and toQueen's,King George &Goodmayes Hospitals and features information about the Hospitals,NHS services, promotes charitable and community organisations and has an extensive local events guide featuring community non-profit events. Bedrock Radio also provide local news on-air covering East London and South Essex, the station has announced it will launch on a local DAB+ later in 2025.[30]
Time 107.5 FM was the commercial radio station broadcasting to Havering and surrounding areas and features local news, Time FM closed on 1 August 2025 becoming part of Nation Radio London.[31]
The London Borough of Havering has several sporting clubs:
Havering istwinned with:
The Borough is the education authority for the district providing education in a mix offoundation,community andvoluntary aided schools. There are also a number ofacademies.
Havering Adult College provides part-time day, evening and weekend adult education (19+) from sites throughout the borough.[34]Havering Sixth Form College provides sixth form education for pupils of borough schools as well as those who are resident in the borough.[35]Havering College of Further and Higher Education provides part-time and full-time education to students aged 14+.
A 2017 study byTrust for London and theNew Policy Institute found that 52% of adults in Havering lack Level 3 Qualifications (A Level equivalent) – the worst level of any London borough. 44% of 19 year olds in Havering also lacked these qualifications – the second worst level in the capital.[36]
The Borough of Havering is serviced byThe Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.[37]
Provisions of Accident and Emergency fromQueens Hospital, Romford. During the 2019/2020 financial year Queens hospital received 309,551 patients into the A&E department.[38]
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