Kingston's £2m Boris cash draws envious glances (From Surrey Comet)

Kingston's £2m Boris cash draws envious glances from neighbours

7:30am Friday 20th January 2012 in Kingston By David Lindsell and Lauren York

Kingston's £2m Boris cash draws envious glances from neighbours

The Mayor of London has awarded £2m to revitalise Kingston town centre in a move to make it more of a magnet to visitors.

But the funding has sparked criticism from neighbouring town centres, who missed out in the second round of Boris Johnson’s Outer London Fund announced on Tuesday.

Projects set to benefit include a revamp of the Ancient Market Place, a heritage attraction at All Saints Church, mobile tourist kiosks and a new performing space for young artists.

Liz Ellis, from town centre managers Kingstonfirst, said: “We are delighted to receive investment into the town centre.

“It will help us put Kingston on the map in the future and make us stand out from other towns.”

But traders and businesses in Surbiton, Tolworth, New Malden and Hook said more money should be spent on them.

Steve McManus, owner of Surrey Premier Meats in Ace Parade, Hook, said: “You would think they could allocate a little bit of it to ease the burden of businesses in Hook that are struggling.”

Kingston Council’s bid to the Mayor of London for money for “outlying areas” , including £855,000 for New Malden, was unsuccessful.

New Malden councillor Ken Smith, part of a strategy group for the town, said: “I thought this was to help areas that needed support, certainly New Malden and other outlying areas need support.

“I was very disappointed that we didn’t achieve it.”

The group had applied for money to turn the area around New Malden station into a transport hub, landscape St George’s Square, revamp shop fronts and celebrate the Korean and other communities.

But Lisa Gagliani, chief executive of Kingston Chamber of Commerce, rebuffed the criticism and said Kingston had shown it had a strategy to make the best use of taxpayers’ money.

She said: “Surbiton and Tolworth and New Malden need to get themselves ready to take advantage of similar opportunities in the future.

“Rather than whinging and moaning that everything goes to Kingston they need to start emulating.”

A Greater London Assembly spokeswoman spokesman said: “Due to the volume of applications received for the Outer London Fund we weren’t able to find funds for every project that applied, however the borough of Kingston is benefiting from an investment of over £4m to support regeneration in the area.”