The cost of transforming a popular Marlow shopping street may have ‘spiralled’ to over £60,000 more than was originally planned.

The long awaited makeover of Spittal Street – which was originally pegged at around £100,000 – is now believed to have snowballed to £162,000 according to a freedom of information request revealed by a Marlow architect.

The contentious improvements to Spittal Street were unveiled by the town council as part of its Vision for Marlow in January this year and were initially planned to go ahead in April 2015.

However it was confirmed at the end of last year that work would not go ahead until April 2016 due to difficulties arranging the costs.

The scheme is funded through Section 106 developer contributions held by Wycombe District Council and Community Infrastructure Levy held by the town council and investment has also been made by property giant Sorbon Estates.

However it now appears the developer is now contributing over five times more than its original estimated cost from £12,000 to £53,000 and the town councils contribution has more than doubled from £13,000 to £33,365.

Once it goes ahead the pedestrian friendly development will see an informal crossing introduced to the busy street and wall mounted LED lanterns will replace lampposts.

Whilst the town council is yet to release a full statement as to why the cost has increased so dramatically, Cllr Richard Scott has said there are some ‘very good reasons’ due to the delay of the project and construction costs have increased.

In a letter to the Marlow Free Press, chartered architect John Burnham, questioned why so much money was being poured in to the scheme.

He said: “At a time when Council budgets are being cut, The Town Council appears to be putting all of its eggs into one Spittal Street basket.

“By doing so it is endangering; other essential work which is required elsewhere within the rest of the town centre.

“When it has to fund the repair of all the other uneven pavements in the town, MTC is unlikely to find such a generous benefactor as Michael Shanly to help it out with more money.”

The Anglers Court overhaul – of which Shanly has just submitted fresh plans – is an extension to the Spittal Street upgrade.