community festival

The City of Surrey has launched Focus Newton, an initiative to enhance, beautify and engage with the Newton community.

About Focus Newton


Through the Focus Newton initiative, the City of Surrey is investing in a bright future for Newton by:

  • Enhancing Greenery
  • Improving Safety and Cleanliness
  • Expanding Family Programs
  • Adding Public Amenities
  • Fostering Social Connections
  • Improving Active Transportation

Guided by community input and aligned with ongoing capital projects, Focus Newton is dedicated to making Newton a thriving, vibrant area that everyone can take pride in.

View the plan 

Key achievements


Significant improvements have already been made to the community, including:

  • Vibrant and Green: Installation of new decorative lights on 128 Street and three new community tree planting events.
  • Cleanliness and Safety: A spring cleanup blitz with 495 garbage bags of litter and 319 illegally dumped items collected, increased litter collection routes, more frequent cleanups at major parks, and 16 community park and natural area cleanup events.
  • Public Space and Amenities: A pop-up plaza at 72 Avenue and 137 Street, four new picnic shelters at West Newton and Strawberry Hill Parks, and the installation of new benches at Panorama Village Park.
  • Active Transportation: New crosswalks and curb enhancements at multiple locations.
  • Programs and Events: Three new outdoor movie nights, Sounds of Summer concerts, job fairs for international students, weekly family programming at Newton Rec Centre, and a variety of community events at local parks and libraries.

Looking ahead

The Focus Newton Action Plan will continue to deliver exciting new projects including: enhanced entrances to the Serpentine Greenway, seasonal cleanup blitzes, additional picnic shelters, benches, and washrooms at various parks, new family Diwali events at the Newton Rec Centre, and expanded trail networks.

Focus Newton Action Plan

The Focus Newton Action Plan was developed with community feedback to guide the City's efforts. It outlines key objectives for the enhancement and beautification of Surrey's Newton community. Community input informed five key focus areas of the Action Plan:

View the plan

Focus 1: Vibrant and Green

Action 1.1: Enhance Landscaping and Greenery

Additional landscaping will improve key locations across Newton, including key parks, vibrant business areas, key transportation corridors and residential areas. Opportunities to engage community members in enhancing and stewarding natural areas will be expanded.

Action 1.2: Create Art and Placemaking Opportunities

Implementing more art and placemaking throughout public spaces in Newton will contribute to interesting and vibrant public spaces. Opportunities for static installations such as murals, street banners, ground art, vinyl wrapping and sculptures will be explored, as well as performance and interactive art.

Locations that benefit most from art and placemaking may include hubs for people including cultural and business districts, key park nodes and paths, transportation hubs and civic amenity areas.

Action 1.3: Expand Seasonal and Decorative Lighting

Decorative lighting will help create warm spaces that are welcoming to everyone, no matter the season. Commercial streets, transit stops, parks and other high traffic community destinations across Newton will benefit from additional decorative lighting.

Focus 2: Cleanliness and Safety

Action 2.1: Increase Safety in Public Places

Safety and cleanliness are key parts of making public spaces comfortable and well-used. Piloting a program to pair outreach workers and bylaws officers will help keep Newton spaces vibrant, as well as support vulnerable populations.

Action 2.2: Increase Cleaning and Litter Removal Services

The City is committed to increasing service levels to clean litter and remove illegally dumped items throughout Newton. This includes increasing the frequency and expanding the areas of litter collection to reflect the needs of the growing community.

Large-scale cleanups will complement the City’s efforts, along with targeted enforcement.

Action 2.3: Encourage Resident Care Through Engagement and Education

The City will support residents in organizing community clean-ups by making additional resources available to groups and volunteers. The City will develop resources and opportunities for community members to make informed decisions around waste removal. This may include educational resources on waste removal or free sessions on community safety measures.

Focus 3: Programs and Events

Action 3.1: Increase Family-friendly Activities

Family-friendly activities and programs help make Newton more lively and animate public spaces. More free family-friendly activities will be organized in Newton. This will include summer programming at parks and recreation facilities and through new partnerships with local groups and organizations.

Action 3.2: Engage and Support International Students

Many international students call Surrey, and Newton in particular, home. The City can support and lead programs that cater to international students and help them develop deeper and beneficial ties to the community. Initial actions include outreach to share available recreation and library resources, as well as further engagement and coordination with community partners.

Action 3.3: Foster Social Connectedness Through Programs

The City is committed to developing new programs and strengthening existing resources, that encourage social connection between residents. Such resources may include English language programs and mobile library services. Programs that encourage social connections may also activate outdoor spaces, such as safe streets at schools that are designated for walking and cycling during key pick-up and drop-off times.

Action 3.4: Support Community Leadership to Make Newton Vibrant

The City recognizes that the greatest impacts can occur through community-led initiatives. The City will support residents who are interested in improving Newton and who may have innovative ideas. Examples include promoting Surrey’s grant programs and youth leadership opportunities.

Focus 4: Public Spaces and Amenities

Action 4.1: Provide Places to Sit and Gather

To be functional and social, public spaces require comfortable places to sit together. A variety of seating options and locations throughout parks and activity hubs will help ensure that spaces are meeting residents’ needs and providing the opportunity for social connections. Seating options may take the form of picnic tables, covered tables and benches.

Action 4.2: Provide Amenities to Support Public Spaces

Newton’s public spaces and parks need to be welcoming for people of all backgrounds. The City will prioritize practical amenities to enhance comfort and access to public spaces. These include drinking fountains, washrooms and electric power (for programs and events) at key locations such as parks.

Action 4.3: Improve Major Facilities

Newton’s indoor public spaces are also important spaces for the community. The City has a number of ongoing capital projects and upgrades that will help enhance Newton’s facilities. Additional improvements may include upgraded walking loops, small-scale renovations at Newton libraries and other civic facilities.

Focus 5: Active Transportation

Action 5.1: Improve Wayfinding and Directional Signage

Quality of public space, comfort and access can be improved through wayfinding and signage, especially to improve experiences at key outdoor amenities such as greenways, major athletic fields and civic amenity hubs. Wayfinding may take the form of signage, kiosks, or other creative ground treatments and use of materials.

Action 5.2: Enhance Walking and Cycling Routes

Walking and cycling must be a safe and healthy option for residents of all backgrounds and abilities to get around Newton. City investments can help enhance the comfort and safety of active modes of travel. This may include adding infrastructure improvements such as adding letdowns, new sidewalks, new curb bulges and pedestrian signals. Walking and cycling may be further enhanced by expanding the network of trails and paths in Newton parks.

Action 5.3: Strategic Long-Term Transportation Infrastructure

While the City may provide active transportation improvements in the short term, additional consideration needs to be given to long-term transportation infrastructure and planning to support the growing Newton population. This includes rapid transit options such as introducing Bus Rapid Transit and planning for future SkyTrain. These options, along with additional transportation strategy work, will help address congestion relief in Newton and across Surrey more broadly.

Community engagement summary

Community input has helped to inform the Focus Newton Action Plan. We heard from over 2,000 residents through the survey, pop-up events, phone calls, and emails.

View the Report

Improvement projects in Newton

Unwin Community Park
  • The City has acquired the last property to expand this community park.
  • New amenities will include accessible washrooms and improved trails and paths.
  • Planning will start in 2024.
Newton Athletic Park
  • A new fieldhouse in the southern part of the park will provide an additional four changerooms as well as public washrooms.
  • Two synthetic turf field replacements are complete.
  • A new synthetic turf field is complete.
  • A 600-metre, three-lane rubberized walking track is complete.
Kabaddi Park
  • Two new rubberized volleyball courts and walking loop upgrades are complete.

Upcoming capital projects

There are many exciting capital projects taking place to meet the growing needs of Newton.   

Contact

For more information about this project, please contact focusnewton@surrey.ca.