The London Borough of Redbridge is a
London borough
The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at ...
established in 1965.
The borough shares boundaries with the
Epping Forest District and the ceremonial county of
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
to the north, with the
London Borough of Waltham Forest
The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is a London boroughs, London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: London Borough of Enfield, Enfield to the nort ...
to the west, the
London Borough of Havering
The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. ...
to the east, the
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in the south and east, and the
London Borough of Newham
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...
to the south.
The principal settlements in the borough are
Ilford,
Wanstead, and
Woodford.
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.
[Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001)]
Places of interest
Parks and open spaces
Redbridge has more than 35 parks, playgrounds and open spaces. These include
Hainault Forest Country Park
Hainault Forest Country Park is a Country Park located in Greater London, with portions in: Hainault in the London Borough of Redbridge; the London Borough of Havering; and in the Lambourne parish of the Epping Forest District in Essex.
Geograp ...
, with 300 acres of countryside including adventure play areas, cafe and petting zoo; Roding Valley Park, a wildlife sanctuary with a range of flora and fauna and woodland areas;
Valentines Park, including
Valentines Mansion, ornamental gardens, bowling green and outdoor gym; and Claybury Woods and Park, a conservation area that features an ancient area of oak and hornbeam woodland, meadows and wildlife ponds.
Arts and culture
Valentines Mansion 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 on the second floor of Redbridge Central Library, Clements Road,
Ilford, along with the Redbridge Heritage Centre.
The
Embassy Cinema is an
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...
former cinema in
Chadwell Heath. It opened in 1934 and closed in 1966, but is currently the focus of a major
restoration project.
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:
*Aldersbrook Library
*Clayhall Library
*Fullwell Cross Library
*Gants Hill Library
*Goodmayes Library
*Hainault Library
*Redbridge Central Library
*Keith Axon Library
*Seven Kings Library
*South Woodford Library
*Uphall School Library
*Wanstead Library
*Woodford Green Library
Sport and leisure facilities
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
The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs.
Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 t ...
Division One
The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First Div ...
:
Redbridge F.C.
Redbridge Football Club is an English association football club based in Barkingside in the London Borough of Redbridge. Prior to July 2004 the club was known as Ford United F.C. The change of name was chosen to help associate the club within ...
(not to be confused with
Dagenham & Redbridge
Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as D ...
) and
Ilford FC. In addition there is fellow
Non-League football
Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...
club
Barkingside F.C. who play at The Oakside stadium.
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.
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 km
2 (the London regional density is 5,199, far higher than the England and Wales figure of 371).
The healthy life expectancy (HLE) at birth for Redbridge residents stands at 65.5 years for males and 62.4 years for females (the England average HLE is 63.4 for males and 64.1 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 (34.5%), followed by Indian (16.4%),
and Pakistani (Redbridge has the highest proportion of Pakistani residents of any London borough).
Ethnic and religious change
In common with many London boroughs, the most recent (2011) census showed notable ethnic and religious population mobility in Redbridge. Ethnic groups whose proportions fell in Redbridge were White British (-23% of the borough's total), Irish (-0.9%), and Caribbean (-0.6%). Ethnic groups whose proportions rose include Pakistani (+4.9%), other Asians (+4.4%), Bangladeshis (+3.9%), and other White (+2.9%). Religious groups whose proportions fell in Redbridge were Christian (-13.9%) and Jews (-2.5%). For Jews this represented a fall of over 50% of their number in some wards. Religious groups whose proportions rose include Muslims (+11.4%) followed by Hindu (+3.6%).
Ethnicity
Religion
According to the
2021 Census, the largest religious groupings are
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
(31.3 per cent), followed by
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...
(30.4 per cent), those of
no religion (12.6 per cent),
Hindus
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
(11.1 percent) no response (5.7 per cent),
Sikhs
Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The ter ...
(5.7 per cent),
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
(2.1 per cent),
Buddhists
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
(0.5 per cent) and other religions at (0.7 per cent).
The number of Christians in 2011 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.
Elizabeth line
These services serving these stations will be rebranded from
TfL Rail to
Elizabeth Line in late 2020.
London Underground
Central line: Epping Branch.
Central line: Hainault Loop (follows the route of the
A12 from Wanstead to Newbury Park)
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:
All of which had been transferred from
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
to
Greater London
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness
Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...
by the Act. The former town hall in Ilford is now known as
Redbridge Town Hall.
Following a review by the
Local Government Boundary Commission for England
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) is a parliamentary body established by statute to conduct boundary, electoral and structural reviews of local government areas in England. The LGBCE is independent of government and pol ...
, minor changes were made on 1 April 1994 to the boundary with
Barking & Dagenham and
Newham. Further changes were made on 1 April 1995 to the boundary with
Waltham Forest
The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to t ...
and
Epping Forest District.
The latter change transferred an area around
Grange Hill
''Grange Hill'' is a British children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical comprehensive school. The show began its run on 8 February 1978 on BBC1, and was one of the longest-running program ...
and
Roding Valley tube stations from Essex to Greater London.
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 b
Trust for Londonand th
New Policy Institutefound that Redbridge has the highest proportion of 19 year olds with Level 3 qualifications (equivalent to an A Level) 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
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
in
Knightsbridge.
Redbridge Music Service - Redbridge Schools' Choral Festival
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Notable people
Gallery
Image:Ilford Exchange Shopping Centre.JPG, Exchange shopping centre, Ilford
Image:Fulwell Cross library rear.JPG, Fullwell Cross library, Barkingside
Image:Gants Hill stn southwest entrance.JPG, Gants Hill roundabout and station, Gants Hill
Image:Newbury Park Tube station.jpg, Newbury Park station, Newbury Park
References
External links
London Borough of Redbridge Council website
Things to do in London Borough of Redbridge
{{DEFAULTSORT:London Borough Of Redbridge
Redbridge
1965 establishments in the United Kingdom