A council will begin construction work to beef up security at a theatre next week to prevent a terrorist attack, following weeks of speculation.

Work will start to install 19 bollards outside the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, as part of £140,000 worth of security improvements.

In January, Canterbury City Council said it was not starting work to protect the rest of the city just yet.

Last week KentOnline work revealed wider works could start in as little as two months.

Today, Canterbury City Council’s director of community services Suzi Wakeham said: “When details emerged of our £660,000 scheme designed to stop a hostile vehicle entering the pedestrianised centre of the city, we promised to contact businesses and residents who live there.

“We will be in touch with them very soon to talk through the practical considerations around the scheme’s operation in order to strike the right balance between security and the needs of businesses and residents.

“The works being undertaken at the Marlowe, as well as for the wider scheme, are both being supervised by our highly-skilled engineers, ensuring that they complement each other as we do all we can to boost city centre security on the advice of experts in counter-terrorism policing.”

Work to install the 19 security bollards around the front of The Marlowe is expected to take around three weeks.