WORK is about to start on a £35,000 revamp of pavements in Princes Risborough High Street in a bid to improve the walking experience for shoppers.

This week Buckinghamshire County Council announced a start date of Monday, October 3 for the works which will see the current tarmac surface replaced with bitmac.

It comes after maintenance technicians decided the busy road deserved a face lift and coincides with work in other towns, including Marlow.

Wycombe District councillor, Bill Bendishe-Brown, said the works were welcome and added that he had been assured the disruption would be minimal for traders.

He said: "It is definitely needed and it is also about trying to minimise the disruption in the street.

"I hope it will be done as soon as possible and we welcome the upgrade that is going to occur."

However, there was confusion among some traders after the county council admitted it had not sent out letters warning them the works would be taking place.

Bob Aldridge, owner of Alternative Tools in the High Street, admitted he was in the dark. He said: "I have not heard anything official from anyone, I just heard one person mention it when he was in the shop.

"I think it is an absolute waste of money."

Ian Reed, area co-ordinator, said the county council were looking to send out letters as soon as possible and that the disruption would be kept to a minimum.

He said the whole street would not be dug up at once and that workers would confine disruption to set areas as they made their way along the High Street.

He said: "The work will last two weeks with one week each being spent on either side of the High Street."

Mr Bendishe-Brown added that the town council was looking to commission a traffic survey for the High Street to coincide with the works.

The survey would monitor how traffic flows can be controlled in the best possible way.

He said: "These are works undertaken over the short term but we are looking at the future infrastructure requirements and how to take those forward."