Revamped route to improve station link to town

Planners hope access to Harlow Town railway station will be improved after the revamp

Improved walking routes are due to offer easier access between a town centre and its railway station.

Harlow Council leader Dan Swords said the route in the Essex town "hasn't worked for years" and needed transforming.

A community-designed mural, digital signage and landscaping were mooted as ways of sprucing up the path, which led to Harlow Town railway station.

Residents have been invited to share their own ideas for the project, which would be supported by a £49,000 grant from Greater Anglia.

"So many visitors to Harlow have complained to me about the muddled route from the station to the town centre – that's why we're transforming it," said Swords, a Conservative.

Changes on the route were planned as part of the town's sustainable transport corridors project, improving walking and cycling access.

Better lighting, upgrades to junctions and a new bus station have also been planned across north Harlow.

Alastair Gunn, the council's cabinet member for garden town and planning, said the project accounted for the town's future growth.

"Improving the look of that last bit of the journey to the station will make our town all the more welcoming and easier to get around," he added.