Kettering: Part of town centre's £4m revamp completed

The work on Kettering High Street is expected to last until the summer

The first phase of a £4m revamp of a town's high street has been completed, a council said.

The new pavements are the first section of the Kettering High Street Heritage Action Zone works, which will also see new trees and seating put in.

North Northamptonshire Council and Historic England are overseeing the project.

The authority's Conservative leader Jason Smithers said it "will make such a difference to Kettering town centre".

The money comes from the government's £95m High Streets Heritage Action Zone programme.

As well as improvements to the look of the streets, the project will see grants handed out to improve the appearance of buildings in the town centre

A bid for the scheme was submitted by Kettering Borough Council before it was replaced by North Northamptonshire Council in the reorganisation of the county's local government structure.

The authority said the pavements have been finished on each side of High Street and resurfacing works to the central carriageway started this week.

It hopes the project will be finished by the summer.

Mr Smithers said the work was "important after such a difficult couple of years for our high streets" due to Covid-19 restrictions.

North Northamptonshire Council said work will now begin on the High Street's central carriageway