After May 7
No overall control. Conservative largest party
Council size: 54 seats · 18 up on May 7
Council · District council
Epping Forest
No overall control. Conservative largest party after May 7 2026. (Majority lost, previously Conservative)
What happened on May 7
Seats won and overall control
Reform UK
12 of 54 seats
Won 11 on May 7 · had 1 before
Next election
TBC (Local Government Reorganisation)
Two-tier council under English Local Government Reorganisation. Next election date awaiting Statutory Instrument.
Post-May 7 composition
Every party's seat count on the new council
Pre-May-7 composition is the latest OCD snapshot of who held each seat; post is pre minus seats up plus actual winners.
Local Government Reorganisation
Why we don't yet know when Epping Forest next votes
Epping Forest sits in a two-tier county area under review for Local Government Reorganisation following the English Devolution White Paper (December 2024). The county council and its districts are expected to be replaced by one or more new unitary authorities. Until the Statutory Instrument is laid, the next election date is not in our gift to guess.
We'll flip this page from TBC to a confirmed date the moment the SI publishes.
How accurate was the model here?
Our 7 May 2026 forecast for Epping Forest
Locked, sha256-witnessed forecast scored against the actual count. See the full national accuracy audit →
Our locked May 7 forecast
The pre-election prediction
This is the seats-on-the-ballot projection we published before polls opened, used here for accuracy comparison only.
All wards
Per-ward forecast vs actual
| Ward | Our top pick | Actual winner | Predicted share | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buckhurst Hill East & Whitebridge | Green Party | Reform UK | 42.5% | medium |
| Buckhurst Hill West | Reform UK | Conservative | 32.2% | high |
| Chigwell with Lambourne | Conservative | Conservative | 47.1% | medium |
| Epping East | Reform UK | Reform UK | 32.9% | medium |
| Epping West & Rural | Conservative | Conservative | 36.3% | medium |
| Grange Hill | Reform UK | Conservative | 33.0% | high |
| Loughton Fairmead | Independent | Reform UK | 40.1% | high |
| Loughton Forest | Reform UK | Independent | 32.6% | high |
| Loughton Roding | Independent | Independent | 40.0% | high |
| Loughton St John's | Independent | Independent | 39.1% | high |
| North Weald Bassett | Conservative | Reform UK | 37.1% | high |
| Ongar | Conservative | Reform UK | 37.1% | medium |
| Roydon & Lower Nazeing | Conservative | Reform UK | 46.4% | medium |
| Rural East | Conservative | Reform UK | 34.6% | medium |
| Theydon Bois with Passingford | Reform UK | Reform UK | 33.0% | medium |
| Waltham Abbey North | Reform UK | Reform UK | 34.1% | medium |
| Waltham Abbey South & Rural | Conservative | Reform UK | 41.2% | medium |
| Waltham Abbey West | Conservative | Reform UK | 36.4% | medium |