Town centre revamp unveiled

A £110,000 scheme to improve the appearance and safety of a busy pedestrian area has been unveiled.

St Edmundsbury Borough Council, which stumped up £80,000 towards the cost of the work on Cornhill in Bury St Edmunds with Suffolk County Council providing the remaining £30,000, says the work will benefit people using the area.

A spokesman said the old paving had reached the end of its life and the tree planters needed extensive repair work.

The area, most of which is used by market traders and their vehicles on Wednesdays and Saturdays, was becoming difficult and expensive to maintain and would not have survived another winter, he said.

Work was started in September and completed last month. The spokesman said the opportunity was taken to repave the whole area incorporating a new design and to construct two new planters and seats around the two large trees on the Cornhill.

New pop-up electricity feeder pillars have been installed for use by market traders and, as these are stored underground when not in use, the area now looks neater and the power supply is hidden away, said the spokesman.

Uplighters have also been installed around both seating areas to make more of a feature and to enhance the trees and traditional materials have been used wherever possible.

The paving works were carried out by St Edmundsbury and the planters were constructed by local firm Cubitt Theobald Ltd. The new seating was made by Nigel Kaines of Designs On Metal.

Jeremy Farthing, St Edmundsbury portfolio holder for the environment, said: "This is an important part of the town centre so it's good to see it looking smarter and better equipped for its many uses. We hope that shoppers, retailers and market traders will all find it a big improvement."