Cllr Smith, who leads the Labour opposition on Crawley Borough Council, helped set the ball rolling for the £2m renovation eight years ago when she and other residents came together to see what could be done to improve the community.

"Working together we've achieved so much," she said.

"The facades and appearances of the parade were dreadful, and we were looking at how to improve the appearance of the parade and also the whole central community area of Langley Green," she said.

Now that the four-month redevelopment of shops and flats has given a fresher look to the parade, work is set to start on the next phases which will see a new doctor's surgery, school, parking layout, tree planting, and traffic calming.

"I think it's a huge improvement," she added. "Langley Green is a very diverse community but it's also a very friendly and localised community because people actually use the parade and go to the local shops.

"We've managed to retain all our traditional stores because it's very well used by the community.

"But the face lift on the parade is just the start of it," she continued.

The next phase will see the whole environment of the centre of Langley Green transformed.

"With a bit more focus on it being a pleasant area- more seating, more planting, less breaking it up with traffic I hope people will have the feeling that it's a place to come and stay a while," she said.

"Hopefully it will give more of a sense of ownership to people in the community, a feeling that it's a nice place to be and they'd like to keep it that way."

Next month work will begin to change the road layout from a one way to a two way system, taking six weeks to complete.

An Extended Services Building will also be built which will incorporate a new Children and Family Centre, to be completed by the end of 2009.

A new primary care centre will also be built in January or February, and Langley green Primary school will receive a new hard play area.
Plans are also afoot to move the youth club from its current location on the outskirts of the community to the centre.

The plan was originally set in motion by the previous Labour-controlled council.

"We envisaged it being a sort of blueprint for redevelopment across the town," said Cllr Smith.

"I would hope this will still be seen as a model for what can be done around Crawley, and in time we can build on what's happening here in Langley Green."