HRA History

In 1955 several concerned neighbours got together and formed the Higham’s Residents Association. Following the war, developments were taking place to rebuild communities and facilities. It was felt by the residents that the Highams Estate was worth protecting from indiscriminate development and this has generally been the ethos of the Association since then. Some examples;

• The Highams Park was purchased by the Council in 1937 for use as a Park. Before World War II the Warner Estate staff played cricket in the park on Saturday afternoons. The Council had to obtain a waiver from Sir Henry Warner to allow the development of the prefab estate. When the prefabs were due to be demolished HRA lobbied the Council to re-instate the site as a public park.
   
• It was proposed in the early 1960s to erect a thirteen-story block of flats on the corner of Chingford Lane and Montalt Road. HRA made strong objections to the proposal, graphically demonstrating from what distance the flats could be seen and the proposal was dropped.
   
• About every 10 years the Council reviews all its land use policies, deciding what is appropriate for every area of the Borough. The HRA encouraged the Council to recognise the area as an ‘Area of Special Character’, this has served the estates well, protecting it from division of properties into flats, the practice of in fill properties and high-density development proposals.
   
• In 1983 Sir Henry Warner gifted to the Association the 2ft strip of land that lies along the perimeter of Woodford Girls’ High School and adjacent to The Charter Road and also the strip of land between the Rugby Club grounds and the bottom end of Nesta Road. These are known as the Ransom strips. This gives the Association some control over access to what are two large undeveloped green areas and, as a result, some security against unsuitable development. The three Trustees of these Ransom strips are HRA Members.