Ref. 30766-20A SWINDON community is throwing its weight behind a project to give a run-down area a facelift.

An arts group charged with the task of getting the £8,000 Sussex Square project in Walcot off the ground has been encouraged by residents getting involved.

Bill Cox of Artsite said: "I have been truly impressed at the response we have had. The community is very positive. They want this area improved.

"We have had nothing but help and a positive attitude from everyone."

His group organised an art fun day in the square as part of the consultation exercise, which ends in July.

Ideas already put forward include stencilled graffiti murals, a ceramic and metal wall sculpture on the back of the Common Room family centre, new colour schemes and seating. After July design proposals will be drawn up and then put before the Parks and East Walcot Renewal Company for consideration.

Successful designs could start appearing by the end of the year.

The cash is coming from lottery Transform Your Space funding and covers projects in both Parks and Walcot, although most of it is being concentrated in the drab 1960s-built Sussex Square.

"There are lots of people coming forward. I have had some really good discussions with some of the teenagers in the square," said Mr Cox, who is also working with youngsters at the Parks youth club.

He paid tribute to local groups like the community shop and the family centre. "They have helped us all they can," he said. "They have bent over backwards. We wouldn't have been able to do it without their help."

He added that local traders had also contributed towards the fun day, which gave youngsters on the estate the chance to try their hand at different artistic skills with the help of the Octobus mobile art studio.

It was an opportunity to hand out questionnaires asking residents what they wanted to see in the square.

"The underlying reason for the fun day is that we really need to get the consultation process going," said Mr Cox. "Even if we can't afford some of the things that have been suggested, we can work them up to the point where they can be submitted for funding."

He added that good ideas that didn't get approval under the scheme because of cost were not necessarily going to be consigned to the bin.

Tina Clarke