Manor Royal BID has unveiled two new public outdoor spaces in Crawley, giving workers and visitors in the business district fresh places to take a break or enjoy a stroll. The transformation of Woolborough Lane Linear Park and the latest phase of Crawter’s Brook People’s Park opened on 3 July 2026, bringing seating, table tennis and public art to the 240-hectare site.
Woolborough Lane, once an overlooked route for walking and cycling, now has benches, tables, seating walls and outdoor table tennis facilities set among landscaped grass banks and fresh planting. Across the district at Crawter’s Brook, the new Lost Woodland Gallery features three sculptures by artist Andrew McKeown. The Green Lung combines a human lung with tree roots, branches and trunks, Propelling Nature combines an early aircraft propeller with a sycamore seed, and Crawter’s Molecules takes the shape of a molecular structure. Both projects received backing from the Crawley Town Deal, part of a £21.1 million government programme to support economic growth across the town.
The aim is to place a quality outdoor space within a five-minute walk of every employee and visitor in the business district. Crawter’s Brook People’s Park was first improved in 2014 to strengthen connections between Manor Royal, Gatwick Road and Fleming Way, acting as a catalyst for regeneration in an area that had lacked public parks since Crawley was designated a New Town in 1947. In 2020, the government awarded Crawley £1 million in accelerated Towns Fund money, which helped create four micro parks in the district. Councillor Michael Jones, leader of Crawley Borough Council, said the transformation showed what strong partnership working could achieve for communities.
The sculptures form part of the Manor Royal Heritage and Arts Trail, using creative interpretation to tell the story of a district that is home to more than 600 businesses generating around 30,000 jobs. Allen Scott acted as landscape architects on both projects, working to make the spaces functional as well as inspiring. Manor Royal BID first formed in June 2013 after a vote by businesses and must secure renewed backing every five years to continue its work.
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