Elm Park
Elm Park, Havering
A ‘wonder-town of homes’, according to its developers, situated on the south-west side of Hornchurch
With financial support from the Halifax building society, Liverpool-based Richard Costain and Sons began building here in 1934, partly on the site of Elm Park farm. It is claimed that the layout was influenced by the garden city movement, but this is hard to detect.
Costain part-funded the building of Elm Park’s District line station in 1935, after 500 homes had already been completed. It was the last station to open on the line.
A 1937 advertisement promised “space to breathe the clear air of open Essex. Compare these wide, clean avenues with the narrow, dust-laden streets in which many families unnecessarily remain when they could so easily live healthier, fuller lives at Elm Park.” By the outbreak of war the estate was three-quarters complete.
When hostilities ceased the council took on the remaining phase of development – but a planned cinema was never built. More shops were added in the 1950s, and later still came further housebuilding to the south, on part of the former Hornchurch airfield.
St Nicholas church was built in 1955–6, to the south of a temporary church that had been erected in 1936 and was demolished in 1994. For the full history of the church, please click here.
Two local schools, Ayloff and Dunningford, merged in 2009 to become Elm Park primary school. The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, opened the school’s impressive new building on South End Road in September 2011, saying, “Elm Park primary school is an inspiration to all of us and what a fantastic place to teach and learn.” After that, Ofsted placed the school in the ‘requires improvement’ category until 2016, since when it has been ‘good’.
The locality’s oldest and largest pub, the Elm Park Hotel, closed in 2013 and its south-west wing became a Sainsbury’s Local.
Future developments in Elm Park may include higher density housing, but Hornchurch Residents’ Association has expressed reservations about such proposals, preferring the neighbourhood to retain its traditionally suburban character.
Elm Park is a predominantly white area, with just a few residents from ethnic minorities. At the last census the two largest ethnic minorities here were of African and Indian origin or descent, accounting for just four and two per cent of the population respectively.
Postcode area: Hornchurch, RM12
Population: 12,466 (2011 census)
Station: District line (zone 6)
Website: Elm Park Regeneration Partnership (not much to report)