A £3 MILLION scheme to revamp Bolton town centre’s main high street is gathering pace — and is going down well with the public.

The council is close to completing work on one side of the shops in the street, fitting them all with new bolt-on frames, roller shutters and new signage.

The idea is to give the shops a neat, ‘uniform frontage’ and the areas above each unit have also been painted in what the council describes as a uniform palette of colours.

Work will now pause to allow the Bolton Food and Drink Festival to take place and will then continue onto the next phase.

This will include repaving the key thoroughfare and introducing new seating, trees and LED lighting. It is then hoped construction can start on the opposite row of shop units, subject to gaining the necessary approval from landlords and tenants.

Council leader Cliff Morris said the new look shops have been a hit with the businesses affected.

He said: “The feedback from the businesses about the redevelopment has been overwhelmingly positive. They love their new frontages and the look of the scheme. We know that there has been disruption whilst work has been taking place, and we’re grateful to the shops and the public for their patience. Work on repaving the street will start after the Food and Drink Festival.”

It is believed that the council is sourcing specialist trees to line Newport Street to replace the ones which were removed.They are specifically treated so they grow in a neat, uniform manner.

An initial plan to paint the buildings on Newport Street in Bolton’s vivid ‘brand colours’ did not go down well with shoppers when first mooted in 2015. But it appears that the current vision for the street is more popular with the people of the town, with the public and business owners telling The Bolton News that they believe the area is looking much better.

Opposition leader Cllr David Greenhalgh admitted Newport Street has improved — but added that the jury is still out as to whether the scheme will represent value for money. He said: “I am not going to use this to score political points because it is certainly an improvement but we will have to wait and see how it looks at the end.”