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Many of our services will be closed over the Christmas and New Year period, but you can still access many services online.
Update 31 December
Due to staff shortages at Biffa due to COVID-19, we will be prioritising your black lidded bin refuse waste over your green lidded bin food & garden waste on collection days. This may lead to some missed collections of your food & garden bin.
If your food & garden bin is missed please take it in until your next scheduled collection day.
20 December 2021
The council’s contact centre and offices are closed from 12 noon Friday 24 December and reopen 9am Tuesday 4 January 2022. The community hub is also be closed during this time, so drop-in services will not be available.
Out of hours emergency
Our out of hours emergency service will respond where there is a risk to you and your family, or danger to the property.
- Call 0333 230 0464
Social media
We’ll be monitoring our social media accounts from 9am until 9pm every day:
Payments
Make a payment online or over the phone, using our 24-hour automated telephone payment service:
- Make a payment
- Call 01992 564600
Loughton Broadway Housing office is closed from 2pm Tuesday 21 December 2021 and reopens 10am Tuesday 4 January 2022.
The payment kiosk at Waltham Abbey Library is available when the library is open.
Housing Benefit payments
Due to the Christmas bank holiday period Housing Benefit payments to private tenants and their landlords will be paid early.
- If your usual payment issue date is Thursday 23 December, the revised issue date is Monday 20 December 2021 covering the period up to 27 December
- If your usual payment issue date is Thursday 30 December, the revised issue date is Thursday 23 December covering the period up to 3 January 2022
Recycling and rubbish collections
To see if your collections dates have changed visit our check your collection page.
Real Christmas trees can be recycled throughout January. Leave it with your green-lidded garden and food waste bin. If it’s over 6 foot, cut in half and remove the pot and all decorations.
Boxes can be flat packed and left under recycling bags so they don’t blow away or placed inside the bags if they are small, larger boxes should be placed out flat packed on recycling week.
You can find the opening times for recycling centres over the Christmas period on the Love Essex website.
Council owned car parks
All our council owned car parks are free to park in on bank holidays and on weekends during December. A full list can be found on our pay and display car parks page.
Limes Centre
The Limes Centre in Chigwell is closed from 12pm Friday 24 December and reopens Tuesday 4 January 2022.
Epping Forest District Museum
Our museum in Waltham Abbey is closed from 4pm Saturday 18 December and reopens 10am Tuesday 4 January 2022.
Leisure centres
Our leisure centres are open some days over the Christmas period with reduced opening hours. Check your local leisure centre website before visiting:
MOT service centre
Our MOT service centre in Loughton is closed from 1pm Friday 24 December and reopen Tuesday 4 January 2022.
Lost or found dogs
If you have lost or found a dog in the Epping Forest area, contact the Waltham Forest dog team:
- Call 07815 512833 – from 10am to 7pm on bank holidays, not available on Christmas, Boxing or New Years day
Leasehold property insurance claims
If you own the leasehold of a property and need to make a building insurance claim (not contents), call Zurich Municipal:
- Call 0800 028 0336 and select option 1
You will need to provide your address and post code and quote policy number HB-19H070-0541.
If there is water coming in from flats above call our repairs team to report the leak that needs fixing in addition to claim for the damage with Zurich.
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