Will vital town bridge be safe from flooding? (From Worcester News)

Will vital town bridge be safe from flooding?

4:10pm Thursday 26th November 2009 in

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FEARS have been expressed about a vital Worcestershire bridge after the destruction caused by flooding in other parts of the country.

Councillor Richard Jones, mayor of Tenbury Wells, said the damage in Cumbria shows just what could happen to the town’s bridge.

“I am very worried about the Teme Bridge because we know that it was damaged during the floods in 2007,” said Coun Jones.

“It has been inspected and we are assured that it is safe but as things stand it could be several years before a proper repair is made and until then the worry remains.”

There has been a bridge over the Teme since the 13th century. The existing bridge was improved and widened on the advice of the engineer Thomas Telford in 1814. It was widened again in 1868 and 1908.

Coun Jones said: “When the bridge was built, it was the age of the horse and cart and it was never intended for the cars and lorries we have today. It is remarkable how well it was built but the bridge takes a great pounding, especially when water levels are high.”

He said in recent weeks, the town’s community emergency support team and the emergency services have undertaken desktop exercises on flooding response.

Coun Jones said that it had been agreed that St Michael’s College would be used as the centre for people evacuated from the town centre.

“Our biggest problem is that we do not have enough people to put sandbags in place if a flood comes,” he said.

He said more than 1,000 dry sand bags are in store at the town’s auction yard and arrangements have been made to transport them to six strategic points but they were no use if there was no one to put them into place.

An urgent plea has been made for volunteers to come forward to join the town’s emergency flood relief team, but so far just four volunteers have come forward and many more are needed if plans to deal with a major flood can be put into force.

Anyone who wants to join the volunteers can call Tenbury town clerk Pat Buckley on 01584 810118.