The money will help to pay for restoring footpaths, seating, play equipment and Forest Lane Park’s lake and pond, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

Forest Lane Park is set to be refurbished using a National Lottery grant of more than £900,000.

Newham Council agreed to accept the funding to help restore the park in Forest Gate today (Tuesday 6th). Plans say the money will help “deliver significant improvements to the park”.

National Lottery Heritage Fund agreed to award £904,141 to the council to restore Forest Lane Park. This is on top of an £83,000 grant it gave the council in 2023 to help it develop the restoration plans.

The council says it will add a “relatively small contribution” of £173,729 from its own funds, agreed in previous budgets.

This takes the overall investment in the park to over £1.1million.

Plans approved by council bosses say the work will include “restoring the basic infrastructure of the park (footpaths, signage, interpretation and street furniture)”.

It will also involve “replacing or upgrading the play equipment and installing new outdoor fitness equipment”.

The money will also pay for new entrances that the council says will “help to address anti-social behaviour issues that are a significant deterrent to residents wishing to use the park”.

It will also restore the park’s lake and dipping pond, including by “repairing eroded banks and thinning vegetation”.

In addition, the money will pay for new solar-powered “listening posts”. These will play oral history recordings of members of the Hibiscus Community Centre and people who gave birth at the maternity hospital that was once in the Industrial School building in the park’s grounds.

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