Tuesday 8 November 2011

Tenbury Teme Bridge - Update

Residents and traders are being offered the opportunity to find out more about the plans for essential works on Tenbury's Teme Bridge due to start in the new year. 

A second "Public Briefing is taking place on 17 November at Tenbury High School, in Oldwood Road. The event starts at 7.30pm.

Click here for full article.

10 comments:

Mr. Longbeard said...

"Tenbury Futures said...
We are now looking into a full feasibility study for a Bailey Bridge on the River Teme between the Fire Station, across the Cattle Market and into Teme St. Such a plan would need careful traffic management during the months [now almost certainly 6 months] of closure and could only really be single span with traffic lights etc..
21 September 2011 22:10"....

Any progress??

Rugby fan 72 said...

Latest RUMOUR - i have no idea if there is any truth in it.....is that:

"There's Bats under dat dare bridge"

Maybe Pipistrellus pipistrellus or a couple of Myotis daubentonii may well scupper WCCs plans....

Surely these would have been looked for and spotted during the extensive surveys....

Please tell me that, however welcome bats are, these won't lead to the project being delayed/on ice/abandoned!! (I am aware of the laws which protect bats in the UK - touch/interfere with them are your peril...)

Maybe the second bridge might be an option worth considering!

Will the pips contribute to the fiasco?

@WR15 said...

There are some Batty people who would have you believe that Bats live everywhere that they want to object to a development.

Bats do roost in various places, but they don't always come back to the same place each night, any more than the same bird roosts on the same branch every night.

Tenbury Futures said...

Ah see what you mean Mr LB.

One of our number has indeed submitted a feasibility study to Richard Attwood in terms of a the inclusion of a temporary or 'Bailey' bridge across the Teme after research.

Instead of WCC's estimated £4.5m for a supporting temporary bridge during impending works, this report concluded that [aside from ground works which WCC have their own preferred contractor for] the figure was less than £0.5 million.

Tenbury Futures said...

The environmental assessment included with the recent application by Tesco to demolish Tenbury's Old Fever Hospital [RBB] clearly shows evidence of roosting long-eared bats at the southern end of the main building.

Bats are a protected species under UK law. Permission to tamper with or remove such a colony requires a license to be granted at English Nature's discretion.

Alleged discussions in a recent CofT meet suggest that workmen were seen plugging-up potential bat access holes. When challenged by a town resident they allegedly openly admitted that they were "getting rid of the bats" [with a system of small one-way doors]. When this individual apparently asked "where will they go" the workmen allegedly added "they'll find somewhere - that tree up there probably".

One of our number subsequently contacted English Nature. Unsurprisingly no licence to tamper with or remove these protected bats has been granted for this property. If this report is correct then whomever instigated this activity was doing so illegally.

Consistent with this alleged scenario, a number of small 'bat boxes' have appeared in trees at the north end of the old Teme Bridge. After this alleged tampering with this colony are these their proposed new home now [or if] they've been illegally forced-out of the old fever hospital?

Whichever the scenario, The Bat Conservation Trust are now looking into the matter. If this scenario is correct then they'll look to prosecute whomever is found to have instigated this alleged illegal activity.

Ian said...

I've nothing whatever against bats but I'm afraid that in my experience a lot of bat-lovers are . . . well, pretty batty. I was once responsible for a beautiful public building that was plagued by the muck that bats leave behind. The bat-lovers thought this was a quite trivial matter and that the inconvenience was inconsequential. I honestly thought that some of the bat-lovers liked bats more than people. The truth is, though bat-lovers would never admit it, that if the bats disappeared from the bridge only bat-lovers and insects would notice.

Rugby fan 72 said...

@WR15 - a pretty synical view.

"The truth is, though bat-lovers would never admit it, that if the bats disappeared from the bridge only bat-lovers and insects would notice."

By following the same logic you could say the same for every endangered species - newts, black rhino, pandas.....

They are protected for a reason, whether you agree with that or not. If a crime has been it needs to be investigated - no matter how inconvienient it is - for WCC or even Mr Chase!

I am not a "bat lover" or even a bit batty, but i do respect our natural surroundings - i thought you were a bit eco....

@WR15 said...

Rugby fan 72. Aren't you confusing me with someone else?

Rugby fan 72 said...

Oooops yes, sorry, my comments were meant for Ian (an easy slip to make)....and i am not sure if he is a little bit eco or not....

Ian said...

" but i do respect our natural surroundings - i thought you were a bit eco...." . . . I agree with you. It's just about keeping a sense of proportion and applying some common sense. One of our biggest local employers was forced recently to spend an absolute fortune and delay job-creating capital investment for similar "eco" reasons. Don't worry, the bats will relocate not disappear.