The gateway into the Ely Leisure Village is to receive a new welcoming and inspirational design.

Students from Ely Community College are creating a large mural in the underpass leading to the leisure and entertainment location, as a way of creating a positive image of young people and developing their skills in street art.

The collaborative project has involved key partners, City of Ely Council, Ely Community College,  East Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council.

Kilo, lead artist at Splash & Dash Creations Ltd, facilitated a series of after school workshops with the students, aimed at teaching the skills required to be able to paint a group mural, and working on basic spray paint techniques including filling in, fading colours together, working with complex shapes and outlining. 

Students, from year 8 to year 10, were tasked with developing their own original ideas, combining the best elements into a finished design and completing the collaborative painting. One student commented they they: "first started graffiti club because I had just been to Birmingham where there were loads of cool graffiti murals and I thought it would be really cool to help make something like that in Ely."

Youth councillor at City of Ely Council, Will Novick, added: "It's wonderful to see the college and local councils working together to create opportunities for young people to influence the city we live, work, and study in. This project will turn an unattractive underpass into a community project which will show the best of Ely."

It is hoped the created of the mural will instil enthusiasm and joy with all those who use the popular gateway underpass and inspire other young people to take part in supported projects. 

Lizzi Houghton of Communities Service, Cambridgeshire County Council said: "This partnership project with young people in the driving seat has been made possible with great support of all the organisations involved and will be an amazing showcase of young peoples imagination, creation and design for everyone to enjoy."

The installation is taking place over the weekend of 21 and 22 September, starting late morning and continuing into the afternoon each day. Everyone is welcome to call by and watch the installation taking place. Some areas of the underpass may be sectioned off whilst the work is taking place but will remain accessible during the weekend.

Lis Every, Chair of the Community Safety Partnership added: "This excellent project was initiated by our local young people who wanted to ensure the underpass was a pleasant environment for the community using it. The students from Ely College, with local partners and professional street artists will really transform this area.

"The CSP were really pleased to support this which is funded by the City of Ely Council and community infrastructure levy committee as sub-group of City of Ely Council. We are grateful to all those involved - it is a real partnership approach.

"We would like to hear of more ideas from young people and where possible work together to make them happen."