Epping Forest gateway project creates new accessible route thanks to support from Haslers Chartered Accountants
The Goldings Hill Trail – a new entrance to Epping Forest – has taken a significant step towards completion following funding from a local firm.
Last year, the Loughton-based Haslers Chartered Accountants made a £15,000 donation to the Epping Forest gateway project, which plans to open up a previously overgrown area of woodland to provide a new welcoming entrance into Epping Forest.
The ultimate aim of this project is to create an attractive access point to the Forest that is car-free and focused on the needs of the community. This will create an accessible route for local residents to enjoy the forest whilst reducing the reliance on vehicle journeys.
It will establish a natural path network that links various parts of Epping Forest, complete with benches and informative signs to help visitors enjoy and find their way around this beautiful part of the ancient woodland.
As part of the firm’s 70th-anniversary celebrations, Haslers has provided funding to supercharge work on the renovations, allowing the City of London Corporation, which manages Epping Forest, as a registered charity, to commence work at the site sooner and provide a fantastic new entrance to the Forest for residents in Loughton and Debden, as well as further afield.
Haslers has had a lifelong goal to improve the lives of people and local communities in and around London and Essex.
Using the money donated by Haslers, Epping Forest has installed a new welcome sign with a map and information about the area, as well as a new waymarked trail, which will take visitors to some of the most beautiful spots in the forest, such as the Lost Pond.
A new bench area has also been installed at Goldings Hill Pond to provide a tranquil place for visitors to rest and enjoy watching the wildlife.
Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Epping Forest and Commons Committee, Ben Murphy, said: “This work will help to make this area of the Forest even more open and welcoming to our visitors, especially to local residents. “It’s part of our wider project to encourage sustainable visiting by making the areas of the Forest closest to where people live even more accessible. This will reduce vehicle journeys, cut carbon emissions and help to improve air quality. “This pilot scheme, funded by leading local business Haslers has helped us to showcase the role other local businesses can have in improving environmental outcomes.” The money donated by Haslers will also be used to help with the creation of a visitor website and to promote the exciting things that Goldings Hill Ponds and Epping Forest have to offer to visitors.
Haslers Chair, Jon O’Shea, added: “We are delighted to have played a part in helping Epping Forest to create a welcoming gateway to Goldings Hill and into the wider Forest. “These areas of natural beauty have become highly valued by the local community and deserve as much investment and support as other local amenities. “To be able to provide new places for local people to relax and enjoy nature is very rewarding and was a great way for our firm to celebrate seven decades in practice.”
The ancient woodland is London and Essex’s largest green space and is known as “the green lungs of London”.
The Forest is of national and international conservation importance, containing two registered historic parks, seven listed buildings, and three scheduled ancient monuments.
More than two thirds of Epping Forest is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation.
The City Corporation, which manages Epping Forest as a registered charity, is a major green spaces provider in London and south east England. It protects over 11,000 acres of open space – including Epping Forest and Hampstead Heath – and over 200 smaller ones in the Square Mile, investing over £38m a year. They remove an estimated 16,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year, equivalent to 44% of the City Corporation’s annual carbon footprint. These sites, most of which are charitable trusts, are run at little or no cost to the communities that they serve. They include important wildlife habitats, Special Areas of Conservation, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and National Nature Reserves. They are protected from being built on by special legislation.
Haslers Chartered Accountants has a long and proud history of supporting local projects through its dedicated charity body, The Haslers Foundation, donating over £200,000 through its charitable foundation to local clubs and causes.
To find out more about Haslers’ range of tax, accountancy business advisory services, please visit www.haslers.com
