Through house building and construction of the railway the parish expanded as an extra-metropolitan suburb of London. The parish authorities resisted earlier attempts to form a local board of health, but finally adopted the Public Health Act 1872 for the parish of Leyton and Walthamstow Slip, creating a local government district in 1873. It was extended to include part of the parish of Wanstead to the south, known as Wanstead Slip or Cann Hall, from 1875. The board of the new district met in the vestry room until 1882, when new public offices were in Leyton High Road to the design of J Knight.