£1 million investment for Clapham Common

Working in partnership with the Clapham Common MAC (CCMAC), Lambeth Council is set to invest some £1 million in infrastructure projects across Clapham Common.

CCMAC has identified two key areas for the first major investment in many years:  installation of a new water play area to replace the children’s paddling pool; and an upgrade of paths, signage and access across the Common.

A new wet play feature will replace the children’s paddling pool, which, despite repeated repairs over the years, is not fit for purpose and remains closed. This denies local families the opportunity to enjoy what is one of the most popular free summer play activities on the Common.

Pictured is the recently-installed Mayatt’s Fields Park water play area.

The project to improve access to the Common – including for wheelchair users – will comprise restoring paths and replacing the current hotchpotch of signage with more informative and consistent signposting.

An additional, much smaller project, is a feasibility study to establish the economic, community and ecological benefits of reshaping the area around the basketball and skate park to make better use of this cramped, busy and untidy space.

Planning starts this month and CCMAC has created three Working Groups to work with Lambeth Council to deliver each project. The projects will be subject to community consultation. The Working Groups will also seek out additional funding and partnership opportunities from third parties.

This investment follows the restoration of the Bandstand in 2019, funded by a levy on events on the Common, and a complete upgrade of the children’s playground near Windmill Drive in 2020.

There are also separately-funded plans to landscape the closed section of Windmill Drive; install a composting facility at the green waste site; and bring up to international standard the basketball courts.