FURTHER work to restore the historic cobbles of a market town's high street has taken place

Cumbria County Council progressed improvement works on Alston’s Front Street on Monday for five days.

The works involve the removal of a section of unstable cobbles and blacktop reinstatements, from the Co-op to the Top Café. This section will then be temporarily resurfaced to make the road safe until future works to reinstate the cobbles have been developed and funding has been confirmed.

The first two days of the works included digging out the damaged cobbles and old blacktop reinstatements and changing iron work. From Wednesday, the works focused on resurfacing and re-lining the road.

All of the removed cobbles will be stored so that they can be re-used in the redevelopment of Front Street for off-road projects in and the around town centre.

The road closure of Front Street extended from the junction with Church Road to the junction with the B6277 road.

Coun. Claire Driver, Cumbria County Councillor for Alston and East Fellside, said:“I’d like to stress that this is only a temporary solution whilst the county council continues to source funding for a second phase of reinstating the cobbles.

“By working together with the local community, we will ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum and that businesses in Alston are actively promoted as remaining open to visitors.”

Dave Liquorice, Save Alston Front Street, said the laying of blacktop will remove "the ugly mess of poor condition cobbles and rough blacktop patching but it does not return the historic and picturesque charm of Alston."

He added: "We will continue to apply pressure on Cumbria County Council to locate and secure funding for the complete reinstatement of cobbles right through the town.”