East of England

The East of England is one of nine official regions of England. It includes the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. This area helps with planning and statistics.

In 2024, about 6.6 million people lived in the East of England. Big towns and cities here include Bedford, Luton, Basildon, Peterborough, Southend-on-Sea, Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and Cambridge. Peterborough is the largest city.

The northern part of this region, with Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, is called East Anglia. People think of East Anglia as a special area with its own culture. The southern part is close to London, and many people travel there for work.

Geography

The East of England has some of the lowest land in the UK. About twenty percent of the area is below sea level. Places like North Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and the Essex Coast are examples. The Fens, a big area of reclaimed marshland, are mostly in North Cambridgeshire. The lowest point in the whole country is in a village called Holme. The highest point in this region is Clipper Down, located in the Ivinghoe Hills.

England population density and low elevation coastal zones. East of England is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise.

New towns were created in places like Basildon, Harlow, Stevenage, and Hemel Hempstead during the 1950s and 1960s. There were plans to build a new airport near London, but it was never built. Instead, an old Royal Air Force base at Stansted was turned into a civilian airport.

Climate

East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the United Kingdom. It usually gets between 450 and 750 mm of rain each year. This is because weather systems from the Atlantic lose much of their moisture over land before they reach this area.

The winters from mid-November to mid-March are mostly cool. Sometimes cold winds from the continent can bring heavy snow. Spring, from mid-March to May, starts chilly but warms up by late April or May. The weather can change a lot each day and sometimes has showers.

Summers from June to mid-September are usually warm. Air from Europe or the Azores High often brings hot, pleasant weather for a few weeks. Autumn, from mid-September to mid-November, is usually mild with some rainy days and some warm days. Occasionally, there can be a period of nice weather in late summer or early autumn.

Demographics

The East of England is one of nine regions in England. It includes the areas of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk. The northern part, made up of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, is called East Anglia.

Ethnicity

Religion

Ethnic group	Year
	1991		2001		2011		2021
	Number	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%

White: Total	4,891,675	5,125,003	95.11%	5,310,194	90.81%	5,478,364	86.5%
White: British		4,927,343	91.44%	4,986,170	85.27%	4,972,149	78.5%
White: Irish		61,208		55,573		57,964	0.9%
White: Irish Traveller/Gypsy		-	-	8,165		8,977	0.1%
White: Roma						9,675	0.2%
White: Other		136,452		260,286		429,599	6.8%
Asian or Asian British: Total	99,720	142,137	2.63%	278,372	4.76%	405,869	6.5%
Asian or Asian British: Indian	39,292	51,035		86,736		136,974	2.2%
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani	24,713	38,790		66,270		99,452	1.6%
Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi	10,934	18,503		32,992		50,685	0.8%
Asian or Asian British: Chinese	12,494	20,385		33,503		38,444	0.6%
Asian or Asian British: Asian Other	12,287	13,424		58,871		80,314	1.3%
Black or Black British: Total	42,310	48,464	0.89%	117,442	2%	184,949	3%
Black or Black British: African	6,373	16,968		69,925		118,731	1.9%
Black or Black British: Caribbean	21,892	26,199		33,614		41,884	0.7%
Black or Black British: Other	14,045	5,297		13,903		24,334	0.4%
Mixed: Total		57,984	1.07%	112,116	1.91%	179,654	2.8%
Mixed: White and Caribbean		19,882		37,222		51,950	0.8%
Mixed: White and African		6,109		15,388		27,376	0.4%
Mixed: White and Asian		17,385		32,226		51,448	0.8%
Mixed: Other Mixed		14,608		27,280		48,880	0.8%
Other: Total	21,810	14,552	0.27%	28,841	0.49%	86,232	1.3%
Other: Arab		-	-	10,367		15,639	0.2%
Other: Any other ethnic group	21,810	14,552		18,474		70,593	1.1%

Total	5,055,515	5,388,140	100%	5,846,965	100%	6,335,068	100%

Politics

Elections

In the 2015 general election, many people in the East of England chose different parties. Most of Hertfordshire and Suffolk voted for the Conservative party. The Conservatives won most seats, while Labour won in Cambridge, Luton South, Luton North, and Norwich South. UKIP won one seat in Clacton, and the Liberal Democrats won one seat in North Norfolk.

In the 2019 United Kingdom general election, the Conservatives won more seats, including Peterborough and Ipswich from Labour. They also took North Norfolk from the Liberal Democrats but lost St Albans to Daisy Cooper.

Number of MPs returned per party, total 59 (situation at end of parliament in brackets)
Affiliation		2010–15	2015–17	2017–19	2019–24	2024–present
	Labour Party	2	4	7 (5)	5 (7)	27
	Conservative Party	52	52	50 (46)	52 (51)	23
	Liberal Democrats	4	1	1 (2)	1	7
	Reform UK				0	3
	Green	0	0	0	0	1
	The Independents	0	0	0 (1)	0	0
	Independent	0	1	0 (4)	0	0

Governance and regions

The East of England has a plan for its future that was shared in May 2008. This plan was changed in January 2013.

The East of England has many local governments.

In a system used by Eurostat, the East of England was called "UKH". After the UK left the EU, these names were changed in 2021.

Ceremonial county	Shire county / unitary	Districts
Essex	1. Thurrock U.A.
	2. Southend-on-Sea U.A.
	3. Essex	a) Harlow, b) Epping Forest, c) Brentwood, d) Basildon, e) Castle Point, f) Rochford, g) Maldon, h) Chelmsford, i) Uttlesford, j) Braintree, k) Colchester, l) Tendring
4. Hertfordshire		a) Three Rivers, b) Watford, c) Hertsmere, d) Welwyn Hatfield, e) Broxbourne, f) East Hertfordshire, g) Stevenage, h) North Hertfordshire, i) St Albans, j) Dacorum
Bedfordshire	5. Luton U.A.
	6. Bedford U.A.
	7. Central Bedfordshire U.A.
Cambridgeshire	8. Cambridgeshire	a) Cambridge, b) South Cambridgeshire, c) Huntingdonshire, d) Fenland, e) East Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire	9. Peterborough U.A.
10. Norfolk		a) Norwich, b) South Norfolk, c) Great Yarmouth, d) Broadland, e) North Norfolk, f) Breckland, g) King's Lynn and West Norfolk
11. Suffolk		a) Ipswich, b) East Suffolk, c) Babergh, d) Mid Suffolk, e) West Suffolk

NUTS 1	Code	NUTS 2	Code	NUTS 3	Code
East of England	UKH	East Anglia	UKH1	Peterborough	UKH11
				Cambridgeshire CC	UKH12
				Norfolk	UKH13
				Suffolk	UKH14
		Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	UKH2	Luton	UKH21
				Hertfordshire CC	UKH23
				Bedford	UKH24
				Central Bedfordshire	UKH25
		Essex	UKH3	Southend-on-Sea	UKH31
				Thurrock	UKH32
				Essex CC	UKH33

History

The East of England was important in many big moments of history. During the Civil War, the area supported Parliament. Famous leader Oliver Cromwell came from a town called Huntingdon.

In the Second World War, parts of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex were home to American air forces. Places like the Imperial War Museum at Duxford remember the brave people who served. Airports such as Stansted were used by the Royal Air Force. Special planes like the de Havilland Mosquito were built in areas including Hatfield.

After the war, during the Cold War, American air forces stayed in bases such as RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge until the early 1990s. The Royal Air Force also used bases like RAF Marham for important airplane work.

The East of England became an official region for statistics in 1994 and has been used for this purpose since 1999.

Healthcare

The NHS East of England used to manage healthcare in the area until 2013. It was near a Tesco store, Fulbourn Hospital, and the Cambridge-Ipswich railway, close to Cambridge. The East of England Ambulance Service is based on Cambourne Business Park, west of Cambridge. The East Anglian Air Ambulance flies from Cambridge Airport and Norwich Airport, and the Essex Air Ambulance operates from Boreham.

Economy

The East of England has many important businesses and industries. Power for the area is managed by UK Power Networks, which also serves London and the South-East. There are many big companies in places like Hatfield, Melbourn, and Histon.

Hertfordshire

The Greater Watford area has many well-known companies, including British Waterways, Vinci, Total Oil, and several big shops like TK Maxx and Mothercare. There are also car companies, film studios, and electronics makers here.

Bedfordshire

Moto Hospitality is based in Toddington. Luton has EasyJet’s airport, Hain Celestial Group (which makes Linda McCartney Foods), and Thomson Holidays. There are also companies that make pub chains, beer, and clothing.

Wetherspoons is based in Watford near Watford Junction railway station

East Anglia

Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Suffolk have economies that are mostly based on farming. Norfolk is the largest potato grower in the UK. Famous companies include RAC, Virgin Money, and Aviva in Norwich. There are also food companies like Colman’s mustards and Britvic, which makes Robinsons squash.

Around Cambridge, there are many high-technology companies on science parks. These include ARM Holdings, Adder Technology, and Monsanto. There are also important places like the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus and Marshall Aerospace.

Samuel Whitbread began his brewery in Bedfordshire in 1742

Universities

The most famous university in the region is the University of Cambridge. There are eight universities in the region, including the University of Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin University, the University of East Anglia, and the University of Essex.

Sport

Main article: Sport in England

Football

In the 1800s, students at the university made different rules for football, called the Cambridge rules. One set of rules from 1863 helped create the first official rules for The Football Association.

Today, the main football teams from the East of England are Ipswich Town, Norwich City, Watford, and Luton Town. These teams have played in the top league at different times. Other teams include Peterborough United and Cambridge United.

Netball

London Mavericks, who used to be called Hertfordshire Mavericks and Saracens Mavericks, have played in the Netball Super League since 2005. They represent the East region and play some home games at the University of Hertfordshire and the Brentwood Centre.

Other netball teams from the East region, like Turnford Netball Club, Norfolk United Netball Club, and Hatfield Netball Club, play in the England Netball Premier League, the top level for club and amateur netball in the country.

Literature

Children's author Dodie Smith lived near the town of Sudbury in Suffolk. Part of her famous book The Hundred and One Dalmatians, which inspired a Disney animated film, happens in the town at St Peter's Church.

Media

Television

Many places in the East of England watch BBC East and ITV Anglia television. These stations are based in Norwich. BBC East moved to a new building called The Forum in 2003. ITV Anglia stays at its old location, Anglia House. Their shows come from transmitters at Sandy Heath, Sudbury, and Tacolneston.

Some areas close to London, like Luton and southern Essex, get their TV from BBC London and ITV London. A transmitter at Hemel Hempstead also shares London’s TV signal with parts of Hertfordshire. In northwestern Norfolk, near Kings Lynn, people watch BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and ITV Calendar because they get a better signal from the Belmont transmitter.

Some news programs, like Look East and ITV News Anglia, have different versions for the western and eastern parts of the region. The western version is broadcast from Sandy Heath, and the BBC’s western news comes from studios in Cambridge, home of BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Both versions of ITV Anglia have been broadcast from Anglia House in Norwich since 1990.

Radio

The region has several BBC Local Radio stations, including ones for Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Three Counties Radio which covers Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. Radio Cambridgeshire used to have special shows just for Peterborough, sometimes called BBC Radio Peterborough, but stopped in 2012 to save money.