A new wetland habitat will be created at Waddon Ponds using £60,000 funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Croydon Council contributed to the successful £1.9m Living Wandle Landscape Partnership bid, which will be used to fund a number of projects spanning the length of the river.

The bid's success comes weeks before a community event marking the official reopening of Wandle Park on July 6, following a £3.8m regeneration project.

The project has seen the River Wandle brought back to the surface in Croydon for the first time in decades. The Wandle is fed into by the water from Waddon Ponds after rising from springs in South Croydon and eventually feeding into the Thames in Wandsworth.

Passing under the Purley Way, it rises again just to the west of the green oasis of Waddon Ponds where it flows on through Sutton and Merton.

Changes to the area around the ponds will include restoration of the banks to the middle pond, planting of native British plant species, building of duck houses, and creation of natural habitats for amphibians, invertebrates and wildfowl.

Work starts towards the end of summer and is expected to run over the next two years.

Councillor Phil Thomas cabinet member for highways and environmental services said: "Our vision for Waddon Ponds is for the grounds to become more of a wetland park as opposed to formal gardens.

"The Ponds have long been regarded as a hidden treasure and local people highly value their peace and tranquillity, and we hope to be able to return them to a more natural habitat where wild plants, flowers and wildlife can thrive."