LOCAL authority partners Newent Town Council, Forest of Dean District Council and Gloucestershire County Council are gearing up to carry out more improvements in the town centre.

New footpaths, street lighting, parking bays, a bus shelter and the 20mph speed zone were all successfully introduced around the Market House, Broad Street and High Street during 2012 to 2013.

The latest £144,000 phase of work will replace uneven, damaged kerbs and footpaths in Church Street. The work will take place over eight weeks this summer ahead of the town’s annual Onion Fayre event on September 10.

Construction will take place on both sides of Church Street from the Market Place and continue up to the main access to St Mary’s Church.

The same high quality materials will be used to blend this phase with the earlier work to further enhance Newent’s Conservation Area and the setting of St Mary’s, one of the town’s architectural jewels.

Developer contributions from the Onslow Road housing development will fund this welcome piece of work.

Residents and businesses are being warned that traffic restrictions will be in place during the construction period from June to August.

Drawings will be on display at Newent Library during an information share event on Monday April 25, from 1pm to 7pm where staff from Gloucestershire County Council will be on hand to answer any questions local people may have about this latest phase of work.

Cllr Vernon Smith, cabinet member for highways at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “I’d like to thank local people in advance for their patience while we make these improvements in Newent’s Church Street.

"Our highway crews work around the clock every day of the year to keep Gloucestershire safe and moving. For anyone on Twitter please follow @GlosRoads to find out what we’re working on at the moment and look out for the hashtag #highways365 to see how crews are working 365 days for you."

Leader of the District Council, Patrick Molyneux said: “It’s good to hear about this latest round of investment in one of our market towns. We are pleased that the works are to be funded by money secured through the planning process from the private sector.”

Mayor of Newent Town Council, Edward Wood added: “This is great news for Newent. The Town Council is regularly contacted about the poor state of the pavements in this part of town, so these improvement works are welcomed by us.”