Part of the city centre which is set to be repaved. Pic: Trevor Rickard and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

A £250,000 project to repave Lichfield city centre will start in January.

The work will be carried out after the previous heritage-style stones – which were installed in 2007 – began to break up.

Part of the city centre which is set to be repaved
Part of the city centre which is set to be repaved. Pic: Trevor Rickard and
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Conduit Street, Market Street and Breadmarket Street will begin to be repaved on January 18.

The new stones will create an ‘aged’ feel but are designed to be tougher and more durable than those they are replacing.

The project is being joint funded by Lichfield District Council and Staffordshire County Council using funds that were set aside from the original project to maintain and upkeep the paving.

Staffordshire County Council’s economy and transport leader, Cllr Mark Winnington, said: “This work involves removing the existing stones and bedding layer and replacing them with a stronger material.

“We plan to close the roads in a set sequence, to allow the works to take place as safely and efficiently as possible. We know there will be some disruption to disabled drivers who pass through and park in the city centre, as well as to delivery drivers. We will be keeping the city centre open to delivery drivers by setting up a diversionary route to avoid any closed roads.”

  • The first phase, which will take approximately five weeks and will see Conduit Street closed and repaved in two separate sections. Traffic will be diverted from Tamworth Street along Bore Street and access to Breadmarket Street, Market Street and Dam Street will still be possible.
  • The second phase, which will take around the same time, will see the lower part of Market Street closed. Traffic will be remain diverted along Bore Street and access to Breadmarket Street and Conduit Street will still be possible. Access to Dam Street will be possible down the newly repaved Conduit Street which will reopen before stage two begins.
  • The third phase, which is expected to tak four weeks, will see Breadmarket Street closed. Traffic will remain diverted along Bore Street. However, access to Dam Street and Market Street will be possible via Conduit Street.

The pavements will remain open throughout the works so local businesses will operate as usual.

Cllr Ian Pritchard
Cllr Ian Pritchard

Councillor Ian Pritchard, cabinet member for economic growth, development and environment at Lichfield District Council, said: “It is disappointing that the original paving stones have not been of the quality we expected, but we’re pleased the works will be starting soon as it will improve the look and feel of the city centre.”

Markets in the city centre are set to carry on as normal as Market Square will not be repaved as part of this project.

Christopher Moulton, Lichfield City Council’s town clerk, added: “We have been replacing the paving stones on the Market Square in a phased approach.

“This will mean that, unlike last time, the markets will not have to be relocated. This was one of the most tricky elements to manage, so any disruption should be reduced considerably.”

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

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Kelly
8 years ago

Why had it been put down so shoddy in the first place the way I see it we already have paid for it to be done why should more money be put into having it done again sounds like a fiddle to me! There’s more projects lichfield council can focus on ie projects for kids teens and families to to and projects to help lonely elderly people over Xmas holidays and throughout the year just a thought….

DeadTake
8 years ago

The Lichfield council is so irresponsible with our cash that there now announcing plans for which they will either abandon or later announce extra unexpected costs which will only mean we pay more for sumthing we don’t need or asked for. We would have a better council if it were run by chimpanzees.

Thornton
8 years ago

Well done to the council for doing this and again choosing an ‘aged’ style of stone. There are plenty of councils out there which couldn’t care less about the look of something like this. This is the heart of Lichfield and would be happy if double the amount was to be spent. If they really want to make the next lot of paving last then why not remove all the disabled parking spaces in market square which take up so much room and block the entrances to shops?

Simon
8 years ago

“It is disappointing that the original paving stones have not been of the quality we expected”

Why are we paying again for them then? Get the supplier to replace them for free.

Nomad
8 years ago

What a waste of our money yet again Lichfield council fail in the first instance .
Could anyone tell us what they did with the old cobbles? ,ill wager they would fetch a pretty penny .

Darryl
8 years ago

£250,000 – are they really that bad?

What could you spend £250,000 on?

I guess the state of the city centre reflects directly on them.

Helen
8 years ago

We all want Lichfield to look nice but this is an outrageous waste of our money, the original contractor should have been called back immediately and sorted it out, taxpayers should not have to pay again after only 8 years. What about all the other poor quality roads in South Lichfield that haven’t been replaced for many years, could we not spend our taxpayers money on these.

Chris
8 years ago

Did the original contractor botch it up, or did the council go for the cheaper option and hope they would last? I know which one of those I’d guess at.

Nomad
8 years ago

Before we start restructuring the town with new building projects wouldn’t it be pertinent to upgrade the road network resurfacing many that are in dire need of repair ,I’m with Helen call them back and put the job right and don’t expect the tax payers to foot the bill for council incompetence.

Nomad
8 years ago

Sorry city not town in so incensed by the councils wasting of tax payers money yet again I forgot myself

Thornton
8 years ago

Why do people think that after 8 years the suppliers of the stone should be called back to fix it? 8 years is a long time and perhaps the stone wasn’t correctly laid or the wrong type of stone was used, who knows.

The Council have made a decision to do this and this should be respected. While there are other areas in the City Centre which are a monstrosity, at least they’re putting some thought into this area.

William
8 years ago

Under Construction Contracts defects are generally either design or construction related. Construction contracts generally have 12 month defects liability periods where they have to repair latent defects such as this. If the defect occured after 12 months these are called patent defects and the designer or contractor is still liable up to 12 years but the process for recovery from designer and contractor is different but still possible.
What the council should be doing is realising that the community understand such issues and explaining the true position. Who specified the paving in the first place and is it the that the specification was inadequate? Is it that the specification was ok but the construction was bad? If the construction was bad who supervised it? What have the council done about recovery of the money for the repair from either the designer or contractor or supervisor instead of getting taxpayers to pay?