This is a £8.4M public realm programme transforming Chingford Mount and Highams Park. Youth-led and co-designed with 500+ young people, it creates safe, inclusive spaces for all ages.

Child-Friendly Chingford is a £9.4 million transformational public realm programme led by Waltham Forest Council and funded by the former Levelling Up Fund. It reimagines the suburban town centres of Chingford Mount and Highams Park, delivering a connected network of safe, inclusive, and playful public spaces across three parks and two town centres.

These neighbourhoods, located in the north of the borough, face long-standing challenges, including an ageing population, youth disengagement, antisocial behaviour, and a fractured sense of shared ownership of public space. In response, the Council launched a bold, youth- led co-design programme that engaged over 500 local children and young people. Through targeted workshops in primary and secondary schools, young voices were empowered to shape a new vision for their public spaces from the outset.

The process placed particular emphasis on groups often excluded from urban design— teenage girls, SEND youth, and ethnically diverse communities. Co-design sessions specifically addressed gaps in sport and recreation, and draft proposals were reviewed and tested by SEND participants to ensure accessibility and relevance.

One of the project’s key insights is that infrastructure designed for children—such as wider pavements, longer crossing times, inclusive play, better lighting, drinking fountains, and seating—also benefits older residents and enhances the broader community’s experience of place. The programme transforms car-dominated, underutilised spaces into vibrant, intergenerational destinations that support active travel, social interaction, local enterprise, and civic pride. By embedding design excellence and radical inclusivity into its foundations, the project delivers high-impact environmental, social, and economic benefits.

Child-Friendly Chingford offers a replicable, forward-thinking model of place-led regeneration. By putting children and young people at the centre of neighbourhood design, it creates public spaces that are not only functional and safe, but full of joy, dignity, and community pride—today and for future generations.