St Neots Market Square, what’s happening?

[@xGqrm]

🔥 🔥 🔥

[@nooe-cv7ie]

🎉

[@bryanbonici8414]

Thank you Andy great content. Thinks it's all part of the 2027 project for the area with the new bypass opening. Does feel like this is taking far too long though.

[@andrewwardmedia]

Certainly taking too long. Thanks for watching

[@Trevorpartington-yc6ri]

Lets hope they are not on peice work because just that small section of paving near the kodak shop too over 3 weeks, thats like laying 2 or 3 slabs a day! Personally I think it's money down the drain.

[@andrewwardmedia]

I tend to agree with you. Thanks for watching

[@charliehoneywood7484]

Some corrections: - The scheme budget is not £15m. That figure is for the total investment in St Neots which also includes the refurbishment of the Priory Centre and supporting the owner of the Old Falcon in bringing the building back into use. The budget for the Town Centre Improvements (as the scheme will improve the whole town centre from the west end of the bridge through to Huntingdon Street, not just the Market Square) is around £7-8m. - Works started on-site in January 2024, not a year ago. - Parking on the Market Square was suspended during COVID and not reopened. Since then and prior to the start of the scheme the only parking allowed on the square was for blue badge holders, albeit this was often abused by non-badge holders. St Neots has ample parking, indeed Waitrose car park is pretty much the same distance from the main High Street shops as the Market Square was. - The vast majority of the work in the Market Square is underground, with the installation of a new SUDS system, tree pits and electrical system with pop-up power for markets and events. It isn't just a case of stripping the blockwork and resurfacing. The depth of the excavations needed for this require significant temporary engineering works which take time. Unfortunately once all of this work is complete it is back-filled so passers-by will never see the work that took place! There are weekly bulletins on HDC's website with photos showing the construction of the SUDS crates underground prior to backfilling. There is plenty of information on the scheme on the HDC website and in the minutes of the various committees for those who are interested...

[@andrewwardmedia]

Hiya, thanks for the info, very interesting. I didn’t know all this, maybe the council should make it a bit clearer, it’s not explained. Maybe I should have researched deeper. Cheers Andy