Tenbury Bridge Work 7 Down, 3 to Go

The upstream railings have now been revealed, but as many have pointed out are already showing dirt stains.  It seems that a forensic paint analysis showed the bridge has always been painted a shade of white, and so English Heritage insisted this should continue.

The work is still on schedule and WCC have issued another update.

The downstream railing are now getting the grit blast and repaint treatment and I guess this will be finished in the next few days.

This leaves just the waterproofing of the concrete extensions, the replacement of the curb stones, the resurfacing of the pavements & carriageway.

Who knows, with luck & good weather the bridge might even be opened earlier than the target date of March 16th.

Plan won't pose additional flood threat.

A letter in this weeks Tenbury Advertiser illustrates why protesters should really try to get their facts correct.

The letter claims that the proposed development will make flooding more likely, when in fact the opposite is true.  The land in question has a clay sub soil, so the existing run off is incredibly fast (almost that of hard landscaping) but if the land is developed, the developer will be required to implement SUDS.  These are measures designed to slow any run off & to stop flooding.  So the risk will be much reduced.

The letter claims that all Tenbury is in a flood zone.  This is incorrect as the EA map shows.

The letter claims that there are no jobs in Tenbury.  Again untrue, we could do with more, but several employers in Burford are expanding and will require more staff.

The letter says that there are many houses for sale including 12 in Orchard Court, but of course there are age restrictions on who can buy in Orchard Court.  There is actually quite a waiting list for Orchard Court, but the older people wishing to move there are "trapped" in their old houses as the housing market has stalled.  This is  due to the lack of suitable and affordable housing at the bottom end of the market.  The very sector that this development is likely to address.

Whether this site is suitable for housing or a desirable development for Tenbury is another matter entirely, but the objections in this letter really don't "hold much water".

Tenbury Regal Open Days

The Regal in Tenbury Wells is inviting interested visitors to see the progress of the Heritage Lottery Funded restoration work at the cinema first-hand in early March. Tickets for these free short tours of the site are now available and guests will be able to see the work already completed as well as learn about what is still to be done.

Tours are expected to last for about half an hour, and will be led by volunteer guides. Visitors will see the progress in the main auditorium as well as in the foyer.

"We had a fantastic response to our Open Day before the construction work started" says Sarah Fellows, Regal Heritage Access Officer. "We're expecting these behind-the-scenes days to be just as popular, so we're advising people to book early to avoid disappointment as places are very limited."

The behind the scenes visits are running on Friday 2nd March and Saturday 3rd March.

Tickets are available now from Sarah Fellows by email on hao@tenburytown.org.uk, by phone on 07980 692302 or in person from the Pump Rooms in Tenbury Wells. 

People wishing to volunteer as guides for the event should get in touch by the same means.

Great News - The Tenbury Regal will be run by Management Trust

Tenbury Town Council voted unanimously in favour of allowing the newly refurbished Regal to be run by a Management Trust.

The full agreement is yet to be drafted but the plan is for the first agreement lease to run for 40 years.

Cllr Rigby said "It is absolutely imperative that a Management Trust is formed" and that the Town Council should "move forward rapidly with the full formation of the Trust"

His comments were echoed by Cllr Drummond and Cllr Bowkett.

Cllr Price added that "the Council should support the proposal as Councils are not good at running commercial enterprises".

Cllr Hudson explained that the Management Trust would be a Charity and hoped to attract Donations and Bequests, but needed to demonstrate that they had a long term agreement with the Council so that people felt secure in the knowledge that their money would be put to good use.

First Windfall Draw Completed

The first TWO4B Windfall draw attracted 3,300 enteries (only 15 of which had been entered with no name).

The winning entry was drawn today by Tenbury Mayor Liz Weston and Chairman of the Tenbury Chamber of Trade, Sarah Thompson.

The lucky winner is Victor Woodford from Tenbury Wells, who will be presented with his cheque and iPod Touch this Saturday.

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.

As another Christmas draws nearer....

The annual Tenbury Wells Lantern & Santa Parade marked the end of the 2011 Mistletoe Season.

All the usual characters were in attendance,

although surprisingly the lantern section seemed somewhat depleted despite the run-away success of this years lantern workshop.

There was also a dance exhibit in the window of 12 Teme Street, but this proved very difficult to see.  Perhaps they had overdone the atmospheric lighting, but with condensation and reflections on the windows the dancers were all but invisible to my old eyes.

More photo's

Tenbury Mistletoe Auction Attracts Brisk Trade

A full auction site of Mistletoe, Holly, Wreaths & Trees attracted a large crowd of buyers from across England, Scotland, Wales and beyond for the first of the seasons sales.

Tenbury High School Pupils from the
Mistletoe Messenger Group discuss their
publication with Green Santa.

In addition to the ranks of press and photographers from the local & national press, pupils from Tenbury High School were selling copies of the Mistletoe Messenger and Destination Worcester's Green Santa was also in attendance.


More photo's
Even more photo's
More again

The Bridge will be closed for 10 weeks or less!

Worcester County Council announced tonight that they have appointed Birmingham based Volker Fitzpatrick and their Worcester based sister company Laser as main contractors for the repair of Tenbury's Teme Bridge.

The bridge is still scheduled to close on 9th January but the plan is for the work that involves the road closure to be completed by 16th March.  This period also includes some contingency time so that there is a possibility that it could open even sooner.

A temporary car park will be established for 50 cars on the North side of the bridge and the old cattle market will be repaired and marked out for parking on the south side.  The charge in the MHDC Teme Street car park will be reduced to 10p for up to 2 hours.

Landrover are sponsoring an additional 4x4 vehicle so that Police will have additional cover and all the Police Officers radios now contain trackers so that the control room can task the nearest officer to any incident.  Police numbers will also be maintained at normal operation levels for the duration and any absences will be back-filled by officers from other areas.

Hereford & Worcester Fire & Rescue Services will maintain two appliances at the Burford Station and an additional appliance will be based at the Bromyard Road Business Park.  Additional appliances will be tasked from Bromyard & Leominster automatically for all calls rather than the current system of calling them in if required.

Ambulance cover will remain the same with vehicles being tasked from Leominster, Bromyard, Ludlow & Kidderminster.  The destination hospital may vary depending on where the patient lives.

A temporary shuttle bus will run from Bromyard Road Business Park to Lloyds Bank and back.  There is an ongoing discussion about providing a bus from the North end of the bridge to the hospital, but this hasn't been finalised.

The main signed diversion routes will be via main roads.  The smaller "local" diversion routes will have a weight restriction of 7.5 tonnes (except for access).  All these routes will be treated (gritted) should the need arise.

Come along and Have your Say!

Burford and Tenbury Wells Communities

Joint Toolkit Evening Event

Tuesday 22nd November 2011

6.30.pm – 9.45 pm

at

Tenbury Wells Primary School

There will shortly be an opportunity to tell the Tenbury Area Partnership your thoughts on what it is like to live or work in the communities that together make up the Burford and Tenbury Wells area and to give your views about what would help your community to develop now and in the future.

30 to 40 people are invited to sign up for a ‘community toolkit’ group discussion event. This will be organised by Shropshire Council with Worcestershire and Malvern Hills Councils. 

The event will help the Tenbury Area Partnership (which includes the Councils as well as voluntary groups, schools and the Chamber of Trade) to gather up-to-date information about the area, which will help in guiding ongoing and future work in the local communities. 

The event is the first joint one of its kind and is building on consultation carried out by the Tenbury Area Partnership conducted throughout 2011. 

Representatives of all age groups are welcome and ideally from across the whole area, ranging from 11 years old through to parents with children and retired people are being sought and the organisers are especially keen to hear from people who may not have been involved in anything before, as well as from those already active in their community. Teas and coffees will be available from 6.30pm and there will be a midpoint break for light refreshments including cakes.

If you would like to take part, please get in touch by noon on Thursday 17th November 2011 with Mrs Lois Dale at Shropshire Council (01743 255667)lois.dale@shropshire.gov.uk

  

Young Good Citizen Award

The Tenbury Police have awarded their 2011 Young Good Citizen award to Josh Moore.  Josh, who left Tenbury High School at the end of last term, had been recommended for the award both by the school and other town organisations.  The list of his community achievements, volunteering and general good deeds ran to several pages.

Josh who is also a talented musician and singer is unfortunately leaving Tenbury shortly for pastures new.

Tenbury Tesco - New Plan Validated

Revised Post 21/7/11


It seems that MHDC have not validated the new Tenbury Tesco application.  Usually when copies arrive in Town they are validated, but I'm informed by a BBC journalist that Malvern hope to get the plan validated this week.


A copy is available to view in the Town Council's office and at library.


The documents will become available on-line on the MHDC planning site in the next few days.

Who would you miss?

BBC Hereford & Worcester were holding a phone-in this morning about the sad state of the High Street, with the recent demise of Habitat, TJ Hughes, etc.  

I cannot pick up the BBCH&W signal in Tenbury, either on FM or AM, so I rarely listen, except on-line when prompted or motivated to do so.  I was asked to contribute to the program, but a prior appointment prevented me from doing so, and although I was once described as having the perfect face for radio, I find my verbal thoughts are much, much less lucid than my written ones.

I gather the idea of the program was to ask people which retailers they would miss most.

I struggle to think of any national retailer that I would miss, but in Tenbury I think the retailer I would miss most is the one I use most often.  The Barn Farm Shop.

Tenbury to Burford Teme Bridge Closures

This is for the initial investigation work.

There will be a longer closure starting early next year.

Films back at the Regal (For a while)

A short season of films is being planned for the Tenbury Regal.  Due to a short delay in starting the refurbishment project, a few weeks have become available for showing films.

The first is the multi-award winning KINGS SPEECH starting on Monday 9th May for three nights.

Town Councillors - all present and correct?

In a few weeks time the good citizens of Tenbury, or at least those on the electoral roll will have the opportunity to vote for a new Town Council.

It hasn't been announced yet who is going to stand, but I thought a little historical data maybe of assistance, in helping you to decide who to vote for.

Of course, you shouldn't decide to vote for a Councillor just on the basis of Presenteeism.  Some Councillors do a lot of additional work behind the scenes, so just being present at meetings doesn't tell the full story.

Also like most of us, life throws up unexpected challenges, such as ill health, bereavement or the need to work & stay away from home, which will divert even the most dedicated public servant.

The data below does give a flavour, if like most people you rarely sit in on meetings.

During the period January to December 2010 the Town Council held something in the region of 72 meetings (some of which had to be abandoned due to absenteeism)  I was at most of the Public Meetings with the exception of a few planning meetings.

The table below shows how many meeting each Councillor was "summoned" to attend. The number varies depending on which committees each councillor sits on.

Tenbury to get a makeover

In a surprising development Worcester County Council have announced that Tenbury is at the top of their list for the next round of Public Realm makeovers.

Tenbury Civic Society & Tenbury Area Partnership along with the Town Council have been lobbying Worcester County Council for a number of years to make improvements to the street scene in Tenbury.

Alan Eachus who is the Civic Society representative on the Tenbury Area Partnership commented " Peter Blake from WCC announced that money was now available for a PR (Public Realm) scheme and works to the bridge. This of course is great news for the town and the County are keen to proceed as fast as possible. It’s been hard work getting to this stage but I remain very positive!"

Tony Penn, the Town & District Council's representative on the Tenbury Area Partnership, announced the news to the Tenbury Town Council on Monday night. He said that the improvements could start within 18 months and will include the Bridge Works.  Other improvements will include alterations to the pavements, road resurfacing and street signs and furniture.


Shropshire Star 

Tenbury Goes Retro

Update: Tickets still available for Tonight (Friday 11th February 2011) Buy on the door. 


Tenbury has two forthcoming events looking back in time.

The first is the Tenbury and District Museum Society 1960's filmshow night of extracts from DVDs published by the Museum, made from films produced by George Kendrick, showing the local area in the 1960s,


They will be holding the filmshow in the Methodist Hall, Cross St, on Friday Feb 11th. Doors open 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start. Tickets (£5, including refreshments in the interval) will be available from Books Books Books.


The second is the Tenbury History Societies 1941 weekend in July 2011.

Full detail of the event can be found on 1941 Event Website.

The Fence Returns

The long awaited fence around the children's playground on the Tenbury Wells Burgage has now been completed.

Although not part of the "grand plan" the The Tenbury Town Council were forced into a u-turn by public complaints that the lack of a fence around the playground was unsafe.

The return of the fence also means that the traditional Tenbury Car Boots sales and use by Tenbury Events for Applefest and the Food Fair can now be undertaken without the need to erect a temporary fence.

Cattle Market Car Park Closes

The Tenbury Cattle Market Car Park has once again been closed and this time it could be permanent.

Although not related to Tesco's failed planning application, it is believed that the site owner, William Chase has decided to close the car park due to the damage done by as yet unidentified "numpties" who lost control of a car in the snow and ice and hit one of the perimeter walls.

This unexpected expense along with the speculation that the old infirmary could be the target of an arson attack is believed to have led to Mr Chase's decision to board up the old building and close the car park.

The planning application to demolish this a several other buildings on site has now been turned down by the planning authority Malvern Hill District Council.