A popular cycling centre is to be upgraded after funding was secured.

The freehold ownership of Redbridge Cycling Centre (RCC) was agreed by the council in April after purchasing the site from the Crown Estate using a £390,000 grant from the London Marathon Charitable Trust (LMCT). 

Facilities in Forest Road, Hainault, are set to be upgraded after the transfer is finalised in September thanks to a £180,000 grant from Sports England.   

The main upgrade will be a four-lane BMX track as the site currently only has purpose built road and off road tracks.

Floodlighting will be installed on the upper circuit so the site can remain open in winter months and a cut-through will be designed to make navigation easier for novices, younger and disabled riders. 

The report outlining the works and to agree a name change to the London Marathon Trust RCC will go to the council's Health, Well-being, Care and Older People Service Committee on September 1. 

Deputy council leader Wes Streeting, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: "Redbridge Cycling Centre is a well-used and popular facility in the borough.

"The investment we’ve secured guarantees the long term future of the centre and we hope the new facilities will encourage people of all ages, particularly disabled people, to visit the centre to learn to cycle or to improve their skills."

Sport England has agreed to award the grant subject to finalisation of the freehold purchase and planning consent, and the application for the BMX circuit is currently awaiting a decision. 

If the development goes ahead as planned, work would commence at the Hainault site in October and the RCC predicts with the new facilities, it would break even in 2014/15.