An artist's impression from 2010 of the town square in front of Fullwell Cross Library and pool. Design consultants are being appointed to draw up their own vision for the proposed square

Multi-million pound regeneration of Barkingside High Street set to start early next year

by Zjan Shirinian
Friday, July 20, 2012
5:59 PM

Design consultants will be appointed next month to help carry out a £2.1million project to regenerate Barkingside.

Better Barkingside is using money from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Redbridge Council to revamp the library and leisure centre end of High Street.

The money will be used to create a public square in front of the leisure centre and could see the cobbles near the library removed – for which the area committee will pay £6,500 towards – new lighting and new pedestrian routes.

Shopfronts could also be improved with a maximum spend of £100,000 and public art up to £50,000 has been set aside for the new “town square” area.

A consultation on the final design ideas will take place before work begins in around February.

The improvements are expected to take about a year to complete.

Speaking at a meeting of area committee three, held on Wednesday in Hainault Forest Community Hall, Manford Way, Hainault, Conservative Cllr Harold Moth was eager to know how much of the money is being spent on consultants, but no exact figures was available, he was told.

The Fairlop Fair, held earlier this month at Fairlop Waters Country Park, Forest Road, Barkingside, was largely paid for by money from the £2.1million grant, with next year’s event also being paid for with that cash.