If you have walked down Sutton high street in the past few weeks you would have no doubt noticed that quite a lot of it is missing. Piles of bricks and pathways are being hefted from the ground, put aside, and the remaining hole cordoned off before new surface is applied.

It is an initiative by the local council to rejuvenate the high street and provide a more welcoming high street for prospective businesses and shoppers. In the recession hit time it appears a logical move, both creating jobs and inviting in more potential retailers and buyers.

A quick look at the numerous posters strewn around Sutton puts the cost at £3 million. Work began in 2009, and will be continuing on until late 2010. The question is, is it really worth it?

Before all the stages and new bits of greenery go in it is hard to imagine the finished product (although the newly laid and chipped concrete gives a less than impressive image) but for now Sutton High Street resembles a construction yard. Shoppers are funnelled between metal gates and against shop windows. No shops have been cut off by the construction work, although some can only be accessed by doubling back on an alley of barriers. “It can’t be helping their business” remarks one Sutton shopper, trying to navigate her way through. But when asked, a shop assistant remarked that “It hasn’t caused as much disruption as we thought it would.”

It is early stages, with only a small portion of Sutton high street replaced (but seemingly all of it dug up). Residents and shoppers will have to wait and see if the £3million endorsement is worth it, and if the businesses flood back.