ANYONE driving into Evesham along Waterside in recent months cannot fail to have been impressed by the views now opened up across the River Avon.

Contractors have cleared away undergrowth and replaced the old wooden fencing with new railings.

Now motorists and pedestrians can enjoy the views across to Abbey Park and there are more improvements to come.

The Waterside work was the first stage in a series of schemes planned to improve Evesham's riverside frontage.

"It has been a bit piecemeal, but now we have a plan for the whole area and you can see the difference," said Wychavon District Council's town centres officer, Lew Hammond. "The opening up of the vistas as you come into Evesham is quite astonishing."

He added: "There are tremendous historic ties with Waterside and Abbey Park and for generations people have brought their families down there and now we have a proper management plan. It is for the benefit of the whole of the town."

The work is set to continue for several years, but the whole process began more than two years ago when district councillors and officers staged a walkabout through the town.

The big boost came through the Government's market towns initiative, under which Advantage West Midlands guaranteed £300,000 if Evesham could find £700,000, which it did.

The first phase of the work was clearing Waterside and bringing back the railings, similar in design to those installed there in 1898 and taken away during the Second World War to help the war effort.

Part of the land along the riverside will now be landscaped and a picnic area put in.

A stretch of Victorian walling alongside Workman Gardens will also be repaired and restored to put right the damage caused by years of flooding.

Workman Gardens themselves have been the most recent beneficiaries of the enhancement programme, with 15 lamp-posts installed only last week casting a display of coloured lighting into the trees alongside the river at a total cost of £29,000.

The other side of the river will also see major improvements this year with work on a new £90,000 walkway stretching from Monks Walk Quay near Workman Bridge to Evesham Rowing Club's boathouse.

That area has been heavily scarred by flooding and the depredations of geese and swans. The new scheme will also restore the riverbank and improve the popular wildfowl feeding and viewing area.

Abbey Park itself is also in line for a facelift and Martin Jennings, chairman of the district's community partnership committee, said: "There are a whole lot of options, but we don't want to tinker too much, because it is a very nice green sward. It is a green lung in the middle of the town."

The major proposals involve replacing the rather tired-looking boating pools, formerly the old abbey's fishing pools.

Ideas include converting one into some kind of sensory garden and turning the other into a pool for model radio-controlled boats.

"I think most people are extremely frustrated about the pools, as they are by the riverbank."

The Abbey Park scheme, which may also see a poppy mosaic laid near the war memorial, could take up to three years, said Mr Jennings.