WORK has started on the replacement of the controversial grey concrete blocks on Winchester High Street.

A JCB began removing the security barriers - installed in the city last winter - on Monday morning to make way for a more permanent solution.

Civic chiefs are set to spend £125,000 on the new measures.

According to the plans, the city council would fund the majority of the work, spending £75,000, while Hampshire County Council would cover the remaining £50,000.

As previously reported, the current barriers were installed in Winchester following worries that the city could be hit by a terror attack.

The measures follow the 2016 attack in Nice, as well as similar incidents in Westminster and Barcelona last year, which saw vehicles being driven at crowds of pedestrians.