A £3 million project to give Maidstone Town Centre a facelift is under way after the third phase of regeneration work was launched.

Workers began marking up parts of Week Street and Gabriel’s Hill on Friday before the latter was closed to vehicles today for work on the Public Realm Improvements to start.

The huge sums of money will be used to improve the pavements and walkways in Maidstone’s town centre in an almost identical way to that of the 2013 redevelopment in King Street and the High Street.

Improvements are now set to be made to Week Street, Gabriel’s Hill and Lower Stone Street down to the junction with Palace Avenue.

The designs draw upon the rich heritage of Maidstone, and include squares at key junctions to link with side roads to. For example, Iguanodon Square, at the junction with St Faith's Street has been designed to link with Maidstone Museum. It'll remind visitors that an Iguanodon skeleton was found in Maidstone.

Maidstone Borough Council say the changes will see the creation of a “level surface throughout, giving a more pedestrian feel”.

The designs also show a timeline running all the way from Maidstone East Station to Gala Bingo, marking key points in Maidstone’s history.

This investment is in addition to the impending demolition of the "Old Vic" pub as part of a £2 million Network Rail scheme to replace Maidstone East ticket office with an iconic glass and steel entrance and café overlooking County Hall.

This major new gateway project is jointly funded by the National Station Improvement Programme and South East Local Enterprise Partnership.