FRESH work to overhaul the area around Southampton’s Central railway station and provide a new home for a popular market will begin within weeks.

The first part of the project to rejuvenate the so-called Station Quarter is due for completion and engineers will then get to work on the second part of the £10m project.

As reported last year, Labour council leaders fired the starting gun on the plans to overhaul the area north of the station.

They claim that when the entire project is completed the new-look district could attract a host of new businesses to the area and create up to 350 jobs.

Work on the £2.28m first phase of the project, which was largely funded by Government cash, began in January.

Footpaths and the road layout north of the station have been completely overhauled.

In the next couple of weeks final work to resurface the highway, add final paving to footways and install new lighting on Blechynden Terrace will take place.

Work on the second phase will then start, subject to the necessary funding being released by the Government.

Daily Echo:

A map showing changes being made to the Station Quarter

That will see a new “amphitheatre-style” events area created off Wyndham Place, which will become the new home for the Station Quarter Farmers’ Market.

A number of trees will also be removed from the area and replanted as the layout is redesigned, while the Commercial Road and Wyndham Place junction will be altered to become more compact, with new pedestrian crossings and advance stop signs for cyclists added.

The work is set to continue until next November, but plans to alter the junction outside Wyndham Place have been delayed until later in the project.

The city council’s Cabinet member for environment and transport, Councillor Jacqui Rayment said: “The improvements to the Station Quarter will help us create a more welcoming arrival experience, enhancing the perception of our city for residents and visitors.

“We appreciate that these works have caused some unavoidable disruption, although we have tried to ensure that this has been kept to a minimum.

“In the long run the new development will provide better pedestrian links with the city centre, improved taxi and bus management, and safe, green travel connections.”