Ref. 29513-28TOOTHILL village centre is to get a £24,000 makeover. The money has been allocated by Swindon Council to tidy up the centre and replace crumbling walls with new fencing.

The Watchers statue and surrounding area is also to be improved.

Toothill's village centre was built about 20 years ago and is home to the church, primary school, doctors' surgery, post office, shop, community centre and pharmacy.

It has been showing the effects of wear and tear for some time.

Recently the West Swindon district has been plagued by gangs of youths gathering outside shops and intimidating residents.

It is hoped the council grant will serve to make the area safer as well as better looking for residents.

Coun Mary Martin (Con, Toothill and Westlea), who was instrumental in winning the grant for the area, said the village centre currently looked tatty and unloved.

"We want it to look tidy and more welcoming and help make it the heart of the community again," she said.

"We want to open up the area around the statue and make a feature of it.

"Once we have stopped people walking through the flower beds we might be able to redo the landscaping.

"It will be somewhere people are more inclined to walk through and less likely to want to gather."

The makeover has been a long time coming, having been in the pipeline for two years.

But it is just one of a handful of projects intended to improve the area.

Earlier this month a giant youth shelter was installed in a Toothill park to tempt youths away from loitering outside the village shop.

The shelter, in Shelfinch Park, was funded by the Home Office with the help of the local Neighbour-hood Safety Team.

Shelfinch Park is also set to get a new play area in the coming months, in what Coun Martin hopes will represent a new beginning for Toothill.

Andy Tate