Bids to regenerate swathes of Redbridge and help businesses mount a fight back against the gloomy economic climate have been made as council bosses look to City Hall for funding.

The applications, to the mayor of London’s Outer London Fund, could see money given to Redbridge Council for:

n Improvements to High Street, Barkingside, including extra parking in Virginia Gardens and a public square in front of Fullwell Cross Library.

n Improving the “pedestrian gateways” – or footways – bringing commuters and shoppers in to Ilford.

n Investment in the shopping area in Chigwell Road, Woodford Bridge, to help improve the look and feel of it.

n Flood mitigation measures in Chigwell Road, Hermon Hill and High Road, Woodford Green.

Meanwhile, an application for �245,000 has been formally submitted to the fund.

The bid, as part of the scheme’s first round of funding, is to help pay for Christmas lights in Gants Hill, South Woodford, Wanstead, Barkingside, Hainault and Woodford Green.

Groups in Redbridge will also be encouraged to host town centre events including street markets, funded through small grants of no more than �1,000 per event.

If the funding bid is successful, the money will additionally be used to subsidise street trading licences for caf�s, bars and restaurants and fund a campaign to encourage people to shop in Redbridge.

A decision on that application is expected in the next few weeks.

The �50million City Hall scheme aims to help regenerate outer London town centres,

As part of the second round of funding, for which the deadline for submissions is October, expressions of interest have been made for a host of projects, including High Street, Barkingside works – understood to total �1.3million.

A council spokesman said: “These are currently only expressions of interest, not formal bids, therefore details have not been finalised.

“Any bids the council submits for this second stage will compete with hundreds of rival bids from other councils with an announcement as to what projects will be funded not expected until late November.”