Roding Road Brook Project

Grants from Epping Forest District Council and Loughton Town Council have provided funding for a landscape architect to draw up plans for landscaping the land either side of Loughton Brook as it passes along Roding Road. A public consultation exercise at the end of May 2009 elicited about 70 replies, 96% which were solidly in favour of the proposals with only minor amendments suggested.

The scoping plan includes areas for the school to manage, another area for the Church, a public amenity area managed by Loughton Town Council and a wildlife conservation area alongside the Brook.  The school is looking at the possibility of donating a small strip of land to widen the area for conservation work.
The Environment Agency (EA), which is responsible for the Brook, are fully supportive of naturalising it.  The current culvert does not meet today’s environmental standards although it is accepted that there may be little we can do about that now without incurring huge costs.  The EA are also keen to improve the environment surrounding the Brook as it runs
from Avondale Drive across the playing fields to the Roding.  They are also considering match funding to complete the scheme, once approved.
The LRA has been a major force in getting this project under way; in particular, nothing would have happened without the drive and persistance of LRA Cllr Ken Angold-Stephens.  However, it has now become a community project rather than specifically an LRA project with a management group of local residents (including Ken), aided by a wide range of interested parties.  It has its own Constitution, Business Plan and Vision Statement.  LRA will continue to promote the scheme and to give it strong support.
There is a long way to go but we are hoping for significant progress in 2009/10.