Tenbury Bridge Work 3 Down, 7 to Go

It seems that the contractors are making steady progress.

The upstream pavement bed has been set with concrete and part of the road bed has been dug up.

Scaffolding has appeared, although at this stage, to my untrained eye, I have not idea what it's for.

The car parking situation seems to have been mostly resolved, and there seems to be less problems with cars arriving to find no space available.  Some shops have publicly complained about a steep downturn in trade, whilst other have reported (much less publicly) that their figures are holding up and they are doing better than expected.  Interestingly where they are able to compare their figures with other branches in other towns, then the are pleasantly surprised.

The number of completed windfall cards is rapidly increasing, with the collecting boxes becoming very heavy.  Only time will tell where the shoppers have come from, but stickers are being collected by the thousands.

The date of the first draw has been scheduled for 6th February, with the Tenbury Mayor due to draw the winning ticket.

Tenbury on the Radio

Tenbury has featured today on a couple of local radio stations.


BBC Hereford & Worcester  (at 2:06 & 2:34)


and 


BBC Shropshire (at 1:43)

Tenbury Bridge Work 2 Down, 8 to Go

So two weeks in. The upstream pavement has now been excavated and more service pipes exposed. Whilst at the Northern end of the Bridge work has started on backfilling the pavement area with concrete. 

The arch nearest the Shropshire bank has also been cleared of vegetation which will greatly assist flow in the event of a spate.

Richard Attwood, Engineering Project Manager at Worcestershire County Council, confirmed this week that despite what appeared to be a slow start, the work was proceeding to schedule and that they were still working to a completion date of March 16th.

The problems with parking rubble on, but following the request for people parking cars all day to use the car park at Burford Village Hall, the situation has eased considerably.

The Tenbury Windfall scheme seems to be going from strength to strength and has captured the imagination of shoppers in Tenbury Wells, with apple stickers being handed out when shoppers make a purchase. The scheme has already proved so popular that 100,000 stickers have been distributed to Tenbury's shops, pubs and cafes in just one week!

There have been suggestions that a very few people have tried to abuse the scheme, but actions have been put in place to reduce this and the Police have indicated that they would be willing to investigate any fraudulent behaviour.

Despite the gloom of catastrophic trading results predicted by some shopkeepers, Ashley's bakers from Cleobury Mortimer have opened a new branch in Teme Street and when I visited on Saturday were doing a very brisk trade.  So they should, their buns are delicious, but I do now fear for my waistline which has previously been protected (to some extent) by the lack of availability in Tenbury. 

Tenbury Bridge Work 1 Down, 9 to Go

My first visit to the Bridge site since the closure.  Seems that so far  Volker Fitzpatrick have managed to expose the pipes under one pavement.

I wonder who's pipes they are.  I can only guess they are BT's as there is no way they would contain a gas or liquid!

I had heard stories about much leaning on railings and smoking, but not a lot of activity.  Hopefully the speed of progress will speed up and not slow down.  It seems that no early completion bonus was included in the contract, and if the project runs over, only WCC's additional costs are covered by way of a penalty, so probably only about 0.1% of the contact cost per week.

As nice as it has been to have a much quieter shopping experience in town, the drive around the diversionary route has added considerably to my working week.

On a more positive note, the Windfall scheme seems to be doing well. Too early to tell if it has attracted or retained any shoppers, but everyone seems to know about it and some have already completed their first card.

The shuttle bus, now seems to have a notice in it's window declaring what it is, but I haven't worked out why it doesn't run during the period the children are going to school or coming home (unless it's the obvious - the bus is used on a school pick up run).

Much has been said about the car park on the North end of the bridge. Whilst it seems rather short sighted that the shop owners and workers park there (as it does when they park in Teme Street), thus stopping any potential shoppers parking, but then, where should they park.  I think everyone missed the fact that so many shop owners / workers now live out of town. Hopefully, WCC will make additional parking available.  Two very good options have been presented to them.

I think this proves that the parking planned for the Tesco site is inadequate, and unless Tesco make off site provision for their staff, there will be trouble ahead.  It is almost inconceivable that many of their staff will arrive by public transport as envisaged by their management planners, but then if the CEO didn't know that their customers were deserting them in droves over Christmas  anything is possible.

Tenbury Area Partnership (TAP) - Open Day Event

Tenbury Area Partnership (TAP) will be hosting an Open day on Tuesday 17th January at The Pump Rooms between 2pm and 7pm open to everyone living in both Burford & Tenbury areas to comment on the findings of the recent ‘Mad, Sad & Glad’ survey results.

TAP is working closely with County, District and local councils to ensure local needs are included in policy and strategic decision making, so this is YOUR OPPORTUNTY to HAVE YOUR SAY on what key priorities will be addressed over the coming years. 

The initial findings plus a description of what TAP is all about was included in a Community Newsletter that was distributed to 3500 households within Burford & Tenbury during the last week in December.

TAP representatives will be on hand to answer questions on the findings that are themed around:-

• The Built & Natural Environment
• Business, Economic & Tourism
• Public Services & Community
There will also be opportunities to record other areas that might have been missed.

All details and comments will be analysed and included in the revised Community Plan, which will be launched at the end of April.

FREE light refreshments will be available throughout the afternoon and everyone will be given a Loyalty Scheme card with one red apple included as a thank you for participating in the event.

TAP will be making use of the bus shuttle service, which is available during the Teme Bridge closure, and TAP has made arrangements for the bus to stop by The Crow so that access to The Pump Rooms is as easy as possible.

Car Parking During the Tenbury Teme Bridge Closure.

Two temporary car parks have been created for use during the closure of Teme bidge.

Free carparks have been created at either end of the Bridge – marked in blue on this map. 

• Car Parks will be open 24 hours a day. 
• The bridge will remain open to pedestrians at all times. 
• Vistors arriving via the A456 may park on the Burford side of the river and walk across the bridge into the town. 
• Visitors arriving via routes from the South may park in car parks in the town. 
• There will be turning facilities at the bridge end of Teme Street for delivery vehicles and lorries to enable them to turn around and leave town from the direction in which they entered – area marked in red on this map. 

Click here for full car parking details.

Click here for the bridge information from WCC

Teme Bridge Closure - Fire Cover Contingency Arrangements

Tenbury Wells Fire Station is crewed solely by "On Call" firefighters, who respond to the fire station in Burford when required to attend emergency calls, when alerted by a pager  There are two fire engines based at Tenbury Wells Fire Station.

From Sunday 8th January, one of the fire engines based at Tenbury Wells Fire Station will be relocated to a temporary fire station at Bromyard Road Industrial Estate.

Read the full Fire Cover Contingency Arrangements on the Tenbury Fire Station Website.

If you have any queries or concerns, a fire crew will be in Tenbury Town Centre on Saturday 7th January between 9am and 11am to answer any questions.

Station Commander Chris Churchill from Malvern Fire Station, who is the lead officer for the fire service plans will also be available to speak to, as well as other staff from various departments.