This area is comprised of Romford, Raphael Park and Heath Park, both located in the Borough of Havering. Havering is a suburban East London Borough with large areas of protected open space. Romford is home to Havering’s administrative headquarters. Romford is a large town with lots of local amenities. Transport in Romford is good compared to other areas of Essex, the neighbourhood area has up to 3 rail stations and is immediately South of the A12 which can take one from Ipswich all the way to Poplar, immediately North of Greenwich South East London.

Havering has long been a suburban area, by the 18th century coach services filled routes from London to Romford. Romford was once an ancient parish of Hornchurch and contained five wards. Although politically independent by the 16th century, it only became religiously independent of Hornchurch in the 19th century. In 1965 Romford Borough and local area district Hornchurch merged to form a new local authority area. The area had a population of 29,650 in 1965, growing to 242,000 in 1976 and rising to 256,039 in 2017.

As Romford’s consumerism grew, South Street where much of the shopping activity occurred, became known as ‘The Golden Mile’. Audacious criminal Colonel Blood, famous for stealing the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London in 1671, lived in Romford 3 years before his crime. When caught and the jewels returned to then monarch Charles II, he surprisingly gave Blood a pardon, a pension and an estate in Ireland!

The A12 is usually subject to traffic delays, exacerbated by traffic accidents. Havering’s London Assembly Member Keith Prince has called for all Havering Parks to have a defibrillator on site after witnessing someone have a heart attack, who would have not been revived had it not been for a quick-thinking fireman.

Havering Council and Wates Residential entered a £1 billion public-private partnership to regenerate 12 council estates. The scheme will see around 5,200 homes delivered in the borough over the next 12 to 15 years. Works have already begun, with a focus on Napier and New Plymouth House, in Rainham. So far the partnership has benefited 164 local people through employment and skills initiatives, while over 1,500 students have been supported via educational activities and programmes.