THERE have been further problems with improvement works in Tenbury including cars ‘grounding’ on speed bumps and damage being caused by lorries trying to get through the narrow streets.

Ken Pollock, who represents Tenbury on Worcestershire County Council, has said that he is disappointed that the work, that should have been finished in March, remains incomplete.

But there is not just a delay in finishing the job as new design work has been required in part of the town to sort out problems.

However, Councillor Pollock says that in the end he is satisfied that people will be happy with the project.

“We have not completed the work to timetable,” he said.

The problems that still need to be sorted out include an empty shop next to the Tavern that is being damaged by lorries that have been mounting the curb.

Among the options is the installation of a warning sign or perhaps something as simple as placing a hanging basket on the wall of the property to make lorry drivers more aware of the hazard.

Attempts will be made to try to slow vehicles down to prevent the problem with ‘grounding.’

“Signs to slow the traffic will be installed consisting of signs painted on the road,” said Cllr Pollock.

“A 20mph speed limit is also envisaged as part of the works.”

There are also issues with bollards being damaged on the corner by the Crow pub.

“From all recent reports this seems to be caused by tractors and trailers and occurs because they have a short wheel base,” said Cllr Pollock.

He added that while the design for the corner and the bollards works well for buses and articulated lorries it did not take account of the needs of tractors pulling long trailers.

“The current plan is to use a bell shaped bollard on the corner that is robust enough to withstand a collision with a vehicle and will have a conventional bollard incorporated to give it height and thus be less likely to be hit by reversing vehicles,” said Cllr Pollock.

In some places there has been a need to restore waste bins and improve the mortar, while in another part of the town slabs that have lifted have had to be put down again.

The works on the improvements that began in January have been dogged by trouble.

Traders protested at the loss of business and there were problems with traffic jams because of the way in which the traffic lights were operated.

In order to reduce disruption to the life of the town it was decided to do as much of the work as possible overnight but this resulted in complaints from people living Tenbury who said that it made it difficult for them to sleep.

A shortage of curb stones blamed on a national supply problem also caused further delays.

The second phase of the town centre improvement programme will have to wait until work starts on the Tesco supermarket as the national supermarket chain is making a major contribution to the cost of the work.