Dunstable facelift set to transform the town

As work on the transformation of Dunstable High Street continues, staff at Central Bedfordshire Council have been reviewing the work so far.

The work is expected to be completed by Spring 2022 but there has been a lot of changes already.

On West Street and Queensway paving, planters, rain gardens to reduce surface water flooding and new seating have gone in along with vehicle crossover points and side road improvements. Coming up is the repaving of the taxi rank, carriageway resurfacing, drainage works and information totems. A zebra crossing will replace the pelican crossing, with the second crossing moved closer to the High Street junction and there is lane narrowing towards the junction.

The High Street and The Square have benefited from paving, planters and special rain gardens. There is additional drainage along the southbound carriageway, parking on The Square, a cycleway, seating areas, extensive resurfacing work, improved street lighting and signage. Further carriageway resurfacing, surface water drainage enhancements and new information totems will follow in the new year.

On Church Street, work has been carried out to refresh the pavement and install new plants. There are also plans to resurface a section of the carriageway and widen and realign the footway. The staggered pedestrian crossing will be removed and single crossing points introduced at the junction of the High Street, Church Street and West Street with a tree-lined section of the central reservation.

At the Church Street, High Street and West Street junction, the carriageway has been realigned, with reduced lanes and increasing the size of the footway which is paved. There is still carriageway resurfacing, the reduction of traffic signals, the moving of crossings to junction signals and streetlight changes to do. There are new information totems planned as well.

A council spokesman said: "Along the various sections of High Street North, we removed street furniture, replaced streetlighting, refreshed the central reservation with flood storage and new trees, introduced further rain gardens, brought in new planters and seating, revived the existing raised planters, resurfaced the carriageway, paved the footways, moved the pedestrian crossing, introduced pay and display car parking and put in a new loading bay at Efes restaurant. We made similar improvements on Regent Street. We have some carriageway resurfacing, traffic signal enhancements, adjustments to existing raised planters, better signage, information totems and crossing point improvements lined up.

"We repaved Ashton Square and put in new planters for character and visual appeal.

"One final point, we will introduce a new reduced 20mph speed limit for the highways included in this improvement programme.

"The works are making a big difference for Dunstable and complement our other improvements in the town."