Community action/Waltham Forest
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| Location | Waltham Forest, London |
| Coordinates | 51° 35' 53.41" N, 0° 1' 4.21" W |
The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Waltham Forest.
News
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What are the embryonic initiatives that quickly and radically transform society? Maybe ours will be gardens, suggests Greg Frey, Daily Alternative (Jun 06, 2024)
- What do we think of when we think of luxury? A Walthamstow cafe that does magic with salvaged surplus food profoundly answers the question, The Daily Alternative (Feb 07, 2023)
- London, San Francisco and Beijing achieve ‘remarkable reductions’ in air pollution, theguardian.com (Mar 12, 2026) — Cycle lanes, electric cars and other interventions have helped 19 global cities slash levels of pollutants by more than 20%
- East London is at high risk of extreme flooding – here’s how to limit the damage, theconversation.com (Feb 11, 2026)
- How a London energy co-op is trying to bring power to the people, thenews.coop (Feb 06, 2026) — We speak to Giovanna Speciale, CEO of South East London Community Energy, about its work towards an inclusive transition
- WL Meets: Zoe Gilbertson who is refashioning textiles from the ground up, wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk (May 13, 2026) — Nick Easen meets designer Zoe Gilbertson who wants to revive the UK textile sector, with sustainability woven in from the start
- Our Land: who owns the countryside? New documentary explores the access divide in England and Wale, theconversation.com (May 08, 2026)
- ‘A share in the delight’: the people investing in the UK’s first community-owned solar battery, theguardian.com (May 08, 2026) — Oxfordshire’s Ray Valley Solar already generates clean energy for 7,000 homes, and is now crowdfunding storage to marry daylight with evening demand
- Rewilding giants: captive elephants rehomed in Europe’s first sanctuary, theguardian.com (May 07, 2026)
- Sail-power offers passengers new crossing between England and France, reuters.com (Apr 28, 2026)
- Europe needs affordable, low‑carbon homes – here’s how Barcelona is reimagining its housing system, theconversation.com (Apr 08, 2026)
- How one Kenyan community is building a new future on reclaimed ground, globalvoices.org (May 14, 2026)
- Data Centres Need a Social License to Operate, demnext.substack.com (May 13, 2026) — How lessons from citizens' assemblies are highly relevant for the future of AI infrastructure and data centres, Another Democratic Future and Claudia Chwalisz
- Argentina’s co-operativas escolares: A case study in co-op education, thenews.coop (May 12, 2026) — In 1946, national legislation formally established the teaching of co-operativism and the creation of school co-operatives
UK and international events
[edit | edit source]UK events
May 2026 — National Walking Month, livingstreets.org.uk- May 4 - 10, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — National Hedgerow Week, hedgelink.org.uk
- May 11 - 17, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Mental Health Awareness Week, mentalhealth.org.uk
Global or international events
- May 1 - 3, 2026 (Fri - Sun) first weekend of May every year — Jane's Walk, How to Lead a Jane's Walk, Video, janeswalk.org
- May 03, 2026 (Sun) — International dawn chorus day, first Sunday of May, wildlifetrusts.org
- May 3 - 9, 2026 (Sun - Sat) — International Compost Awareness Week, compostfoundation.org
- May 9 and Oct 10, 2026 — World Migratory Bird Day, worldmigratorybirdday.org
- May 20, 2026 (Wed) — World Bee Day, May 20 each year, fao.org
- May 21, 2026 (Thu) — Outdoor Classroom Day, celebrating and inspiring outdoor learning and play, outdoorclassroomday.com
- May 22, 2026 (Fri) — International Day for Biological Diversity, May 22 every year, cbd.int
2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events
Each week 3 different short videos from across the UK or world.
Rural sustainability UK, Community energy UK, Community action/Argyll and Bute / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism
Waltham Forest video
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- Monoux Sixth Form College, link checked 18:29, 22 June 2025 (UTC)
Food activism
[edit | edit source]- The Hornbeam Centre, working towards a more connected, inclusive and sustainable Waltham Forest community, addressing food insecurity through redistributing surplus food and empowering communities to mutually support one another. "We also seek to promote wellbeing by enabling access to our green spaces and facilitating peer support spaces." added 14:27, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
- The Gleaners Community Café, pay-what-you-feel community cafe based at The Hornbeam Centre, using surplus produce — quality ingredients that would otherwise go to waste — to make tasty, plant-based meals.
- Welcome Garden, xrwf.wordpress.com, added 10:30, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
- OrganicLea, workers' cooperative growing food on London's edge in the Lea Valley
Housing and land
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- Forest CLT, affordable community-led housing for Waltham Forest. added 16:13, 17 December 2021 (UTC)
Community resources
[edit | edit source]- Walthamstow Tool Library, frpuk.org, tool lending library with the mission to make tools both accessible and affordable, run by Forest Recycling Project and volunteers of the local area. "Our aim is to become a vibrant community hub that connects people and ideas to make our lives and surroundings greener, healthier and more inclusive!"
Health and wellbeing
[edit | edit source]- Community Apothecary Waltham Forest, community herbalism project expressed through the three aspects of gardens, learning and medicines. CIC (community interest company) developing vision, practical action and ongoing collaborative work. added 13:53, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
Reduce, reuse, repair and recycle
[edit | edit source]- Forest Recycling Project, charity engaging with organisations and communities in London through a range of practical initiatives to reduce, re-use and recycle waste, and help people live sustainably. "We believe that social and environmental challenges go hand in hand and volunteering is at the heart of all our activities." added 14:10, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
Community currencies activism
[edit | edit source]Waltham Forest LETS (Local Exchange Trading System)
Biodiversity
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Walthamstow Marshes, is a 36.7-hectare (91-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Walthamstow in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It was once an area of lammas land – common land used for growing crops and grazing cattle.
Walthamstow Wetlands is a 211-hectare (520-acre; 2.11 km2) nature reserve in Walthamstow, east London, adjacent to the River Lea in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is focused on the Walthamstow Reservoirs, built by the East London Waterworks Company between 1853 and 1904 as part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain. The site is one of the largest urban wetland nature reserves in Europe and is particularly important for wildlife due to its position within the Lee Valley. It serves as a byway for migrating, wintering and breeding birds. Visitors can freely access the site's natural, industrial and social heritage in one of the capital's most densely populated urban areas.
The reservoirs, under the ownership of Thames Water, also form part of a larger Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, noted for the mixture of aquatic and terrestrial habitats on site, and for their London-wide importance (especially for birds).
Walthamstow Wetlands, opening to the public on Friday 20th October 2017
Open spaces
[edit | edit source]Epping Forest and the green corridor along the River Lea provide some of the borough's many open spaces. W
- East London Waterworks Park, "an idea conceived by local people. At its heart is a community group that wants to acquire and transform the 5.68-hectare ex-Thames Water Depot on Lea Bridge Road in Waltham Forest into a brownfield rainforest offering people the opportunity to immerse themselves in nature." added 12:27, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
Sustainable transport
[edit | edit source]Lea Valley Walk W, London Outer Orbital Path W
Cycling activism
[edit | edit source]News archive
[edit | edit source]2017-2020
- Waltham Forest building a 15-minute borough, Dec 21, 2020...airqualitynews.com
- The rebel bank, printing its own notes and buying back people's debts, Mar 23, 2018...The Guardian
- How cargo bikes can help unclog London's congested roads, Nov 10, 2017...The Guardian
- London's Newest Park Is Now Open (And It's Twice The Size Of Hyde Park), Oct 20, 2017...secretldn.com
- Europe's largest urban wetland will open in east London next month, Sep 27, 2017...timeout.com
- Carrots and communism: the allotments plotting a food revolution, Aug 17, 2017...The Guardian
- Divestival in Walthamstow, Feb 9, 2017...greenwire.greenpeace.org
About Waltham Forest
[edit | edit source]The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is an outer London borough formed in 1965 from the merger of the Essex 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 Epping Forest District of Essex to the north.
The borough takes its name from the former Waltham Forest – a Royal Forest that 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.
| Authors | Phil Green |
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| License | CC-BY-SA-3.0 |
| Cite as | Philralph (2014–2025). "Community action/Waltham Forest". Appropedia. Retrieved May 30, 2026. |