ROADS in Ipswich town centre should be nearly back to normal by the bank holiday weekend at the end of this month.Work by gas company Transco to replace a gas main under the Crown Street junction with Northgate Street and Fonnereau Road is ahead of schedule.

ROADS in Ipswich town centre should be nearly back to normal by the bank holiday weekend at the end of this month.

Work by gas company Transco to replace a gas main under the Crown Street junction with Northgate Street and Fonnereau Road is ahead of schedule.

And Ipswich council engineers have almost finished the work to create a pedestrianised area in Dogs Head Street.

Council transportation chief Stephen Auld was delighted by the success of the projects over the last four weeks.

He said: "So far as Dogs Head Street is concerned, there is just the two ends to complete – and that will definitely be completed by the end of next week.

"We're also in regular contact with Transco and they are also ahead of schedule. They are hoping to be completed a week ahead of schedule as well – and we are trying to get a commitment from them on that.

"We need that commitment because we need to be able to tell the bus companies so they can give their passengers the necessary notice about reverting to their normal timetables."

The work has not caused the problems that some people had anticipated when it was first announced – to the delight of council officials and the town's retailers.

Mr Auld said: "People had talked about the town being paralysed but that clearly hasn't happened. We've been delighted that things seem to have gone so well."

And at the Ipswich Partnership fears that shoppers would stay away because of the work have also turned out to be unfounded.

Paul Clement, Head of The Ipswich Partnership said: "It has been pleasing to see that the traffic chaos suggested in some quarters has not materialised."