WE have lift-off. Poole’s new Twin Sails Bridge has been carefully lifting its sails, to the delight of residents watching from the viewing area.

“It was really exciting to watch the first tentative lifts of the partly-completed Twin Sails Bridge,” said Cllr Brian Clements. “Raising the centre section will allow marine traffic to pass through so that the Poole town side of the bridge can be completed.

“We can really see that, after more than 12 years of planning, we will have our new, and much-improved, harbour crossing working in just a few months from now.

“The challenge then will be to ensure that the resulting regeneration really does provide the exciting prospect for Poole’s future that we envisaged all those years ago.

“This will still take many years to complete and is likely to be delayed by the current economic climate, but I am confident that it provides us with a real opportunity for our town to recover faster than many others.”

The chairman of Borough of Poole’s economy overview and scrutiny committee said there would inevitably be controversy about some of the development and it would take effort to ensure the best possible outcome was achieved.

“The council was planning a select committee to re-examine the highway network on the town side of the bridge and must ensure it gave proper consideration to the needs of all types of road user and the ‘living space’ for those in old and new parts,” he said.

“I welcome the interest is shown in the planning applications coming forward and would encourage people to get involved and work positively to press for an outcome which matches the original regeneration vision and will allow our grandchildren to take pride in what we are creating for them,” he added.