Contentious improvement works to a popular Marlow shopping street have been postponed until further notice, after the council admitted costs have spiralled to thousands more than originally planned.

The upgrade of Spittal Street was due to take place in spring last year, but last night Marlow Town Council finally revealed work has been deferred to coincide with the development of Windsor House – a separate housing project on the same street.

The potential development of Anglers Court has also been factored in to the decision, after housing developers Sorbone Estates submitted fresh plans to remove a set of trees and re landscape the area in January.

However the council admitted it did not know when the Spittal Street makeover would begin, with town clerk Annie Jones saying:“We are damned if we do and dammed if we don’t. We thought it would make more sense to coincide the work on Windsor House and Anglers Court if that application gets accepted.

“That way we don’t have to keep getting traffic control in for the different projects which will be huge inconvenience for people.”

The improvements to Spittal Street were unveiled as part of the town council’s joint effort with Wycombe Dsitrict Council and Shanly-owned Sorbon Estates in January last year and were initially planned to go ahead in April 2015.

And last month it was revealed that the makeover – originally costed at around £100,000 – is now understood to have snowballed to £162,000 following a freedom of information request to councils.

However the town council is still unable to give a clear reason as to why the total has increased so dramatically.