The leader of Swindon Borough Council is feeling very pleased with the authority’s work on the street described as the town's 'front door'.

Work on Wellington Street, one of the main routes into the centre from Swindon railway station, started in January.

The efforts to spruce up the street over-ran a few weeks past the expected May completion date. But now the street is open and is looking much smarter.

Coun David Renard is clearly delighted. He tweeted: “The new Wellington Street, a main gateway and first impression of our town, is looking great.”

The tweet included a picture of the new pavements, with a separated cycle way, signs to the central shopping area and double yellow lines to prevent the road being clogged by parked cars.

At the time of the work the project manager for the scheme Laura Jones described the existing street scene as “a little scruffy” and said: “There’s all different colours of surface and patches.” That has been replaced by clean slabs in a chequerboard pattern.

The work, which cost more than £800,000, is part of the borough council’s plans to revamp and revitalise the town centre. Still to come is work to turn Fleming Way into a so-called 'bus boulevard' and lowering the road to remove the underpass, to make it easier and less intimidating for pedestrians to cross.

Redeveloping Kimmerfields with Zurich’s new headquarters is also part of the programme.