The Slough town centre underpasses in the Brunel Roundabout will be spruced up and made more inviting this October as part of Slough Borough Council’s Urban Underpass project.
The council’s drugs and community safety team and Creative Academy have joined together to organise a range of arts and sports activities during half-term week in October, as part of the project to improve safety and reduce the fear of crime in the town centre.
The Wellington Street underpass is a central area in Slough and is widely used by residents to get to and from the railway and bus stations to the High Street.
To prepare for the activity week, workshops are currently taking place at Slough Young People’s Centre, Britwell Youth Project and St Joseph’s School where young people are working with artists to create designs for the four underpass entrances and preparing dance performances.
During the half term week, there will be different projects run on each day. Performances will take place from Tuesday 28 to Friday 31 October and workshops will run between performance times to encourage young people to join local creative groups.
In addition to painting the underpass entrances, there will be additional improvements to the roundabout underpass area including the lighting and quality of the plants and greenery in the area.
George Kirkham, Slough Creative Academy manager, said: “The Urban Underpass project is about improving safety in the town centre and reducing the fear of crime, as well as getting young people involved in positive activities to make improvements to where they live.”
Cllr James Swindlehurst, commissioner for Slough neighbourhoods and renewal, said: “We know that people have a general concern of walking in underpasses, so we want to brighten them up and make them safer places to be.
“There will be a range of workshops taking place during half-term week in the underpasses, as well as the chance to see the artists at work, so why not pop down and see what’s on offer?”
Slough Borough Council
