On Saturday, I went on an interesting visit to Walworth Road and The Cut in South London, organised by the Harlesden Town Team. The idea was to get some suggestions for how Harlesden Town Centre could be changed over the next three years. Despite the current climate, we have a good chance of getting some money to do up Harlesden Town Centre in a way it hasn't been since the Harlesden City Challenge of almost twenty years ago.
One obvious question is whether we should have distinctive street furniture as we do at the moment. The two South London schemes certainly did, but the experience with the Harlesden City Challenge has been unhappy. The railings and streetlights are more expensive to maintain, and as a result they have not been looked after properly. There is also the issue of where does the Town Centre begin and end. Having distinctive street furniture only works if you can define the area properly, and at the moment Harlesden Town Centre is ill defined. For instance, we have distinctive streetlights etc. around the Jubilee Clock, but as soon as you go on to Wendover Road you get Brent's standard streetlights.
I will do a series of posts on this theme over the next few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment