The Thames Chase Trust manages and promotes the Thames Chase Community Forest.
Community Forests were set up 30 years ago in areas of countryside with a high proportion of degraded land, too few trees and not enough open space for people to enjoy.
Thames Chase Community Forest has within its 40 square miles of countryside parts of the London Boroughs of Havering and Barking and Dagenham, and Thurrock, Brentwood and Essex councils.
16% of the countryside in Thames Chase is made up of former landfill sites, and 20 years ago only 8% had tree cover. In the last 30 years close on 2 million trees have been planted, landfill sites have been restored to a mixture of meadows, hedges and woodland, all with engagement from local communities.
We operate Conservation Volunteer and Educational Volunteers teams recruited from the local community to manage and improve the estate and inform the public about the value and richness of their local environment.
We have a busy all year schedule of sporting, cultural, educational and historical activities and events to attract the largest number and widest spectrum of the local population.
