Havering Consultations

During December 2025 we ran a ‘Christmas Means Community’ campaign to bring residents together through joyful, inclusive activities that embrace diversity, boost wellbeing, and strengthen connections. 

Hosted by our Housing Engagement Team and our fantastic partners, we held events that spread festive cheer and created opportunities for everyone to get involved and feel part of something special. 

We asked you for your favourite things at Christmas, be it food, people, traditions and Christmas songs.

Many people shared their views on our social media channels, and we had 17 people respond to our online survey.   

This is the data from the online survey: 

• The most Christmas cheer came jointly from the post code areas of RM13 (Rainham, South Hornchurch, Wennington and Beam Park East) and RM14 (Upminster, Cranham, North Ockendon and Bulphan). 

• The most favourite Christmas song was jointly Driving Home for Christmas (Chris Rea) and Fairytale of New York (The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl). 

• Your most favourite festive tradition was spending time with your family, whether by having Christmas dinner together, watching a Christmas movie, shopping or baking together. 

• You shared your favourite recipes which included homemade cookies, cakes, sausage rolls, left-over turkey pie and a twist on cooking brussels sprouts for those who don’t like them! 

• Most residents said that the people or person who made Christmas special for them was their family, neighbours, front-line people working over Christmas and Santa!  

We shared your feedback on social media and in our Living in Havering e-newsletter.  You can sign up here for Havering Council news and updates. 

During November and December 2025, we asked residents about their experiences of cost of living pressures in Havering and their awareness of the Council’s Emergency Assistance Scheme. 

We wanted to understand whether the Scheme is reaching everyone who may need support and to gather broader information about financial pressures across the borough.  

Working with Westco, a public sector communications agency, we carried out an online survey and three in-person sessions using a World Cafe approach. 

World Café sessions are larger than traditional qualitative group discussions and focus on allowing participants to discuss their personal experiences in a more informal setting.   Attendees discussed four key topics throughout each session: 

• You and your money 

• The cost of living 

• When times get tough 

• Help and support 

All attendees were recruited from across Havering and were eligible for Universal Credit or Pension Credit.

• We received 1526 responses to our online survey. 

• Despite conducting initial recruitment with 80 people and gaining their agreement to attend the World Café sessions, we achieved a total attendance of 36 participants. 

Your feedback told us:

• Confidence in managing money tends to grow with age and experience, peaking during working life, while younger residents (aged 18–34) are more likely to describe their financial situation as poor. 

• Food is seen as the top spending priority, followed by essential housing costs such as rent or mortgage payments and Council Tax. 

• Many residents feel that rising living costs are largely outside their control, particularly younger people, and would welcome clearer, trusted support and information. 

• Financial pressures take up a significant part of daily life and can affect wellbeing, highlighting the importance of support that considers both financial and mental health. 

• Most residents facing financial challenges have already taken steps to manage their spending, but low savings mean there is limited room to plan ahead or build resilience. 

• People are more likely to turn to family, friends and community networks for support, with different types of support being valued at different life stages. 

• Residents who have accessed the Emergency Assistance Scheme generally view it positively, though almost half of residents were unaware of the financial support available. 

We used this feedback to shape our help and support over the Christmas period in terms of what we did and who we targeted. 

We also used your feedback to help shape our response to the Crisis Resilience Fund, a grant from Government which is designed to help and support people to become more financially resilient. 

We will continue to use your views to shape our plans going forward, ensuring support is clearer, more accessible and better targeted.  

• Our plan will include your feedback to assume low prior knowledge when communicating about support, using simple, reassuring language.  

• Use a mix of communication channels to reach different age groups, while recognising the importance of human, direct contact.  

This insight will help us strengthen how residents access support, including through phone and face‑to‑face options, so people feel listened to and supported when they need help most. 

If you would like further help or information, please visit the Havering website.

During November and December 2025, we carried out a 6 week consultation to ask Havering residents about their views on our draft Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) 2025-30. 

The draft plan sets out the actions we’ll take to tackle air pollution and protect public health. Our focus is on reducing harmful pollutants like Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) and Particulate Matter (PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅) - most of which come from road traffic, but also from sources like construction, wood burners, domestic heating and industry. 

We received over 130 responses to our survey, both online and by email from individuals, groups and statutory consultees. 

We are currently analysing your feedback and adjustments will be made to the final plan where needed. 

Adoption of Havering’s Air Quality Action Plan 2025-30 by the Council requires the prior ratification of the plan by the GLA and a decision by our Cabinet.  We are striving to achieve this within this administration, prior to the local elections in May and will be able to share the finalised plan, consultation report and analysis with you then.