A £30,000 facelift at a popular but previously dimly-lit pedestrian and cycling short-cut underneath railway arches near Battersea Park is nearing completion as part of a council-led improvement scheme.
Many people use the underpass in Ravenet Street as a useful short cut linking Queenstown Road to the Doddington and Rollo estates and also further on towards Battersea Park.
The Ravenet Street underpass prior to the works
Although convenient and well-used, some residents said they would feel safer with better lighting and as a result plans were drawn up earlier this year for a £30,000 refurbishment of this key pedestrian route, and this work is now well underway.
This has led to better lighting being installed, while Network Rail, which owns the arches, has carried out a deep clean on its brickwork. Vegetation growing through the brickwork has been removed and drainage gullies cleared and repaired to prevent puddles and localised flooding.
This busy cut-through is being made safer and more welcoming
The guardrail at the northern entrance to the underpass has been removed to improve cycling access while broken wooden bollards that prevent vehicle access at the southern end are about to be replaced.
The last piece of the jigsaw awaiting completion is for the footpath to be resurfaced to remove cracks and potholes. This work should be completed shortly.
The lion’s share of the funding for these improvements has been awarded from the Wandsworth Local Fund (WLF). This is a local levy on developers to fund neighbourhood improvements such as better roads, pavements or park renovations. The WLF has provided £20,000 to this scheme with a further £10,000 provided by Transport for London via the Central London Sub Regional Transport Partnership (CLSRTP).
The council’s transport and environment spokesman Cllr Jonathan Cook said: “This is an important short cut for many people in this part of Battersea and this improvement project which is now nearly complete will make it much more welcoming and a lot safer."
