A £3.1 million regeneration of White Hart Street in High Wycombe is set to begin in weeks, Buckinghamshire Council has confirmed.

Construction for the project, which will ‘enhance the area for residents and visitors’, will start next month and finish in March 2025.

The council said a facelift of White Hart Street would support food and drinks businesses to provide outdoor ‘alfresco’ dining.

The regeneration scheme, which aims to ‘turn the street into a destination rather than a cut through’ will be delivered in two stages. Firstly, the road and footway will be recovered with Yorkstone paving throughout White Hart Street, Bull Lane and Queens Square.

The second phase will see improvements made to the landscaping in this area of town, including new moveable, hexagonal planters with attached seating.

Plans for the scheme include a ‘vehicle free’ central section to encourage outdoor dining, ‘subject to parking restriction and on street permitting’.

Meanwhile, several cycle stands will also be fitted, as well as lighting columns that can project artwork onto the pavement. The pavement itself will be widened, while new trees will be planted, and existing phone boxes reduced in number and repositioned.

Bucks Council director John Reed told a meeting of the High Wycombe Town Committee this week that a contract for the scheme will be awarded later this month.

He also said: “We have made an allowance within the programme to stop works at Christmas to ensure that Christmas trade is not adversely affected.”