BOROUGH of Poole is to go ahead with a 10-day closure of the old lifting bridge tomorrow, despite the breakdown over the weekend of the Twin Sails Bridge.

Hamworthy and town centre residents will be on tenterhooks with Poole Bridge out of action - but the council says it has put in place “contingency measures” that will enable it to be quickly brought back into use if the Twin Sails fails.

Julian McLaughlin, head of transportation services said: “Following careful consideration, the maintenance work on Poole Bridge will go ahead from 10.30am on Tuesday.

“The Twin Sails Bridge will operate to its normal lifting schedule, albeit with a slightly slower lift speed.

"However, in light of recent operational issues, we are putting in place additional measures to ensure one crossing is available to road users in the event of the Twin Sails Bridge becoming unavailable.

“If this occurs, maintenance work will be temporarily suspended and Poole Bridge brought back into service as quickly as possible to reduce any delay to the public.”

Hamworthy ward councillor Mike White said: “I do acknowledge there are concerns from the local community.”

But he said he had been reassured by the contingency plans. “I am told they could get it back into use for pedestrians and cyclists in the maximum of one hour, vehicles will take a bit longer.”

Ann Smeaton, secretary of Hamside Residents Association has said: “We are dreading it a bit in case it goes wrong again - but Hamworthy folk cope as we always do.”

The £21.6million Twin Sails was out of action for 22 hours over the weekend after being stuck in the open position from Saturday morning.

A problem arose with software which triggered a safety mechanism that stopped the bridge in its tracks. This was not sorted out until Sunday morning.

The problem that hit the bridge the previous week and kept it out of action for nine hours was due to a failure in the hydraulic operating system. A replacement part has been ordered, however engineers will be inspecting the faulty valve this week to see if it can be refurbished.

Work on the 86 year-old Poole Bridge is expected to cost between £50,000 and £70,000 and include extensive maintenance and repairs.