A £2m facelift is set to improve transport facilities in Wallington town centre in a scheme paid for by Transport for London.

The refurbishment is part of the Smarter Travel Sutton initiative and will see improvements in pavements and footpaths, signs, maps, cycle tracks and parking and other public transport in the area.

Improvements will begin in the summer 2010 and a consultation with residents will start this summer to find out what they would like to see happen to the town centre now Sutton Council needs to know which improvements to make.

Some of the ideas proposed last year include widening the footpaths and installing new paving, new cycle parking, and providing new street furniture and better bus stops.

Councillor Colin Hall, Executive Member for Environment on Sutton Council, worked with TfL for more than 18 months to secure the funding.

He said: “More people in Sutton are walking, cycling and using public transport than ever before thanks to the award-winning Smarter Travel Sutton project.

“It is the biggest travel behaviour change project in the UK and last year we saw cycling increase by 50 per cent while bus use was up by 13 per cent.

“We want the project to leave a lasting legacy and to continue encouraging people to use greener forms of transport and cut congestion on our roads. We are therefore planning a number of major infrastructure projects, funded by Transport for London.

“They aim to transform our main district centres with a package of measures to make it even easier to walk, cycle and use public transport to get around.

“We will be asking residents and visitors what they want to see over the next few months starting later this week at the Wallington Festival.”

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