A CELEBRATION will be held after a historic promenade was restored to its former glory.

A total of £500,000 has been spent on work at the Waterloo Promenade in Hyson Green.

The tree-lined walkway has been resurfaced and a hydraulic bollard installed to prevent parked cars from ruining the character of the area.

Overgrown trees and shrubs have been cut back and motion-sensor lighting put up to improve visibility and security.

The work has also included building railings to enclose each of the gardens of 37 terraced properties along the promenade.

The project is part of the wider regeneration of the Forest Recreation Ground, which is due to be completed next year.

The promenade work was started in 2008 as the result of a partnership between Groundwork Greater Nottingham, Nottingham City Council and the Neighbourhood Development Company (NDC) – now known as the Castle Cavendish Foundation.

A celebration of the work, which was completed last summer, will be held next Wednesday.

Local children and residents have been invited to an arts and crafts workshop hosted by Groundwork Greater Nottingham.

Groundwork's play rangers will lead the workshop, followed by a ceremony and speeches by Coun David Trimble, portfolio holder for Leisure, Culture and Customers at Nottingham City Council and Dave Brennan, chief executive of Castle Cavendish Foundation.

Coun Trimble said: "The environmental improvements are really good. It is a vast improvement.

"We did a whole host of consultation beforehand and, to be honest, I was quite worried people would want to keep parking their cars there. But when we explained the benefits the vast majority were on board."

Groundwork Greater Nottingham has been the lead agency on the design and implementation of the scheme. Landscape architect Paul Crawford, at Groundwork Greater Nottingham, said it aimed to bring the promenade back to its former glory.

"The promenade, dating back to the 1900s, has become tired in recent years," he said.

"The promenade comes under the Enclosures Act, in which land was designated for recreation purposes. What we were trying to achieve with the city council and NDC was to re-stamp that back in place because there had started this trend of parking on there.

"The residents had been parking their cars down one side of the promenade, although it is not a formalised parking area.

"This was causing damage to the existing surfacing and the trees, which are all extremely mature, and losing any of those would be visually detrimental to the promenade and the Forest Recreation Ground."

The surface of the promenade has been re-laid with a resin gravel finish, to help maintain its historical character. Granite kerbs have also been put in place along the edge.

jon.robinson@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk