Mayor of London Boris Johnson has announced £11.5m of funding on projects in six boroughs that will help “transform the look and feel” of the Capital in time for the 2012 Olympic Games.
He has confirmed that £7m will be spent on improving Piccadilly, St James and Pall Mall by reintroducing two way traffic and decluttering the area.
Another £1.5m will be spent on the transformation of Jubilee Gardens in Lambeth and £1.3m will be used to improve Kingsland High Street in Hackney.
Projects based in Camden, Enfield and Merton were also approved for funding.
All of the projects were chosen to support the Mayor's Great Outdoors programme, which aims to improve public spaces; but also because they will be of direct benefit to the 2012 Games.
The work in detail is as follows:
- £7m for The City of Westminster to overhaul Piccadilly, St James and Pall Mall. More than one kilometre of railings will be ripped out and two way traffic will be reintroduced. More space will be devoted to pedestrians and the transformative scheme will open up the gateway to St James Park and Horse Guards Parade for the 2012 Games
- £900,000 for The London Borough of Camden to establish Britannia Junction outside Camden Town underground station as a new public space. Wider footways will be created and crossings improved to boost visitor numbers to this already popular tourist destination
- £212,500 for The London Borough of Enfield to upgrade the Harbet Road/Towpath Road section of the River Lea Towpath, and make way for a 'missing link' in the network of Greenway (walking and cycling) routes through to the Olympic Park
- £.1.3m for The London Borough of Hackney to improve Kingsland High Street. Footways will be widened and de-cluttered plus bus stops and cycle stands between Bradbury Street and Boleyn Road will be relocated. Lighting will be improved and CCTV introduced to reduce crime. New trees will be planted and pedestrian crossings will be improved.
- £1.5m for The London Borough of Lambeth to transform Jubilee Gardens near County Hall and the surrounding area ready for it to be a 'live site' for the 2012 Games.
- £827,000 for The London Borough of Merton to transform Wimbledon Town Centre into an attractive place to visit and shop. Junctions will be redesigned and pedestrian accessibility improved from the town centre to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Improvements will also be made around Wimbledon Station.
All works are expected to be completed by early 2012.
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