Victoria Park to get urban beach in time for Olympics

Tower Hamlets is planning a £10million revamp of Victoria Park in time for 2012, with the artificial beach as its centrepiece.

The council has committed £5million to the project and the Heritage Lottery Fund has given provisional support.

Victoria Park, home of the annual Field Day music festival, will be a key cycling route to the Olympic Park in Stratford. As well as the beach - which the council says will be "a unique area for relaxation, sand sculptures and play" - the plans include an artificial waterfall in the park's boating lake, a wildflower meadow, a model boat lake and an "old English garden".

Sports facilities will include a skate park, bowling green and football, rugby and cricket pitches.

Tower Hamlets is consulting on the plans and will make a final bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund in December. A final decision is expected early in the New Year. "It is very exciting," said a council spokeswoman.

If the lottery funding is forthcoming it would be the biggest investment in the park since it was created in the 1840s. The spokeswoman said it would still go ahead with a modified scheme if the lottery declined the funds.

The project is the second proposal for an urban beach in the capital. Hammersmith and Fulham council hopes to reopen a lake-side beach in Bishop's Park in a £6.8million restoration project. It will bid for £3.6million from the lottery in October.

Both councils hope to receive funding from the Parks for People scheme, a £90million joint project between the Big Lottery Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund. It was set up to restore and regenerate public parks, gardens, squares, walks and promenades. In 2006, the area near the Old Truman Brewery in Shoreditch was transformed with sand from Jamaica.

Abdal Ullah, Tower Hamlets' environment chief, said: "This park is the jewel in the crown of the East End. It has served people here for years and we hope this investment will make it fit to serve them for hundreds more."

The beach was included in plans for the park following requests from residents. "We wanted to do something creative and bold and ambitious," said Mr Ullah. "It will be somewhere for people to come, close to the main Olympic area, where it is a little calmer and greener and we will be offering entertainment."