£9m Neighbourhood Renewal Fund to improve your local area

After listening to feedback from residents and community organisations, we’re now delivering improvement projects in every corner of the borough, from community safety and more CCTV to playground upgrades and better sports facilities. The Neighbourhood Renewal Fund focuses on making local improvements that will directly benefit the communities that live there.

The council has also teamed up with local organisations including CREW Energy, Carney’s Community, Katherine Low Settlement (KLS) Wandsworth Town Partnership and STORM Family Centre to deliver exciting new community projects.

The list of projects was compiled from resident suggestions we collected via our online interactive map on Commonplace and at community drop-ins, before being given the green light at yesterday's Cabinet meeting.

'We've listened'

Simon Hogg, Leader of Wandsworth Council, said: "Our Neighbourhood Renewal Fund makes sure that when Wandsworth grows, everyone benefits. We’ve listened to what matters to you and now we’re making sure that developers pay their fair share for us to invest in your priorities.”

An investment of over £1.5m is going into borough-wide community safety programmes which include new mobile CCTV cars. These are rapidly deployable and bring an extra 150 hours of CCTV monitoring each month in addition to our large existing network – providing reassurance and visible community presence.

Council Leader Simon Hogg visits the CCTV centre

In response to requests for safer roads, a new push-button crossing will be installed on Garratt Lane at Henry Prince Estate, the lights under Balham rail bridge will be replaced, walking and cycling over Wandsworth bridge will be improved, and we’ll install speed indicator devices on roads where there are local concerns about speeding vehicles.

Fourteen existing playgrounds will be improved and enhanced, with new equipment as part of a programme of playground refurbishment across the borough. Installing better facilities and safety on playgrounds also supports the council’s ambition for young children to have somewhere safe to play near their home.

Added to that, sports and leisure facilities will be improved and upgraded at nine different sites, including revamped multi-use games areas at Surrey Lane and Dunstan Road and better all-weather pitches at Battersea Park.

Community facilities for all ages are set for a facelift, including refurbishments at Balham, York Gardens and Earlsfield libraries, accessible toilets at Furzedown Pavilion and improvements to clubrooms including Tooting Grove and the Doddington estate’s Venue.

The council has also allocated £35,000 of investment to support Battersea charity Carney's Community re-fit their bike workshop and create a pilot bike shop in a social enterprise to give local young people vital employment skills and experience.

Hannah Tulloch, Chief Operating Officer at Carney’s, said: “The team at Carney's are delighted that the Council have heard our proposal to transform the lives of disadvantaged young people in Wandsworth. Our new Bike Shop Social Enterprise will not only teach skills but also provide paid employment for young people and an opportunity to interact with the public, giving them the first step on their employment journey.”

In another boost to community facilities, Wandsworth Town Partnership are benefiting from £200,000 towards bringing the empty space known as L’Affair pub on Putney Bridge Road back to life, helping to revitalise the Wandsworth town area.

The Neighbourhood Renewal Fund uses funding from Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) payments which the council secures and collects from developers to benefit the local area.

Read about how Wandsworth secures developer funding for local improvements 

Residents feed back local issues and suggestions at community drop-ins

What happens next

You will see work begin on improvement projects over the summer, ahead of a new set of projects identified for funding later this year.

Our series of Leader’s community drop-in events also continues around the borough this summer, giving you a chance to chat with the council leader, your local councillors, your local MP, and police and council officers about local issues and find out about council services relevant to you.

Discover more about local drop-in events

Our interactive online ideas map will open again later this year to gather resident views on how we can improve neighbourhoods across the borough.

Next Cabinet meeting

You can see the full list of projects and watch the live feed from last night’s meeting here.

The next Cabinet meeting will take place on Monday 16 June. The agenda and reports will be published the week before and residents can see the decisions the Cabinet will be making.