London Borough of Waltham Forest

London Borough of Waltham Forest
London borough
Coat of arms Council logo
Motto:  Fellowship is Life
Waltham Forest shown within Greater London
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	London
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Created	1 April 1965
Admin HQ	Walthamstow
Government
• Type	London borough council
• Body	Waltham Forest London Borough Council
• Leadership	Leader (Grace Williams) & Cabinet (Labour)
• Mayor	Cllr Elizabeth Baptiste[1]
• London Assembly	Sem Moema (Labour) AM for North East
• MPs	John Cryer (Labour) Stella Creasy (Labour) Iain Duncan Smith (Con)
Area
• Total	14.99 sq mi (38.82 km2)
• Rank	265th (of 296)
Population  (2022)
• Total	275,887
• Rank	61st (of 296)
• Density	18,000/sq mi (7,100/km2)
Time zone	UTC (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcodes	E, IG
Area code	020
ONS code	00BH
GSS code	E09000031
Police	Metropolitan Police
Website	https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/

The London Borough of Waltham Forest (/ˈwɔːlθəm/)^[2] is an outer London borough formed in 1965 from the merger of the municipal boroughs of Leyton, Walthamstow and Chingford.

The borough's administrative headquarters are at Waltham Forest Town Hall, which before the merger of the boroughs, was called Walthamstow Town Hall. The population was 278,428 at the 2021 census. Waltham Forest borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to the south-west, Newham to the south-east and Redbridge to the east, as well as the non-metropolitan county of Essex to the north.

The borough takes its name from the former Waltham Forest – an institution which managed deer in south-west Essex. Epping Forest is a remainder of the former Waltham Forest and forms the eastern and northern fringe of the borough. The River Lea lies to the west where its associated marshes and parkland form a green corridor which, along the reservoir-lined reaches, separates north and east London, and is the historic border between Middlesex and Essex.

Waltham Forest was one of the host boroughs of the London Olympics in 2012, with the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park providing an ongoing legacy in the UK and London.