“BE very careful, you might get what you wish for,” is a warning with which we are all familiar and it is one that has a resonance in Tenbury, explains Adrian Kibbler.

For years businesses and people in Tenbury have been demanding that work be done on the historic Teme Bridge that is the gateway to the town.

At last this is about to happen with the project scheduled to start after Christmas but there is an increasing awareness of the impact of closing the bridge to traffic for several months in the early part of 2012.

There is never going to be a good time to close the bridge but the accepted wisdom seems to be that the early months of the year are the least disruptive as it is outside tourist season and does not clash with any of the town’s festivals or the run up to Christmas – good thinking, or is it?

Construction work is very weather dependent and if, heaven forbid, the second half of next winter, which is traditionally the worst time of year for ice and snow, was to be as bad as was the first part of last winter delays in completing the project could be inevitable.

There is the additional issue of the short hours of daylight which puts constraints on the job and how long it takes.

Given that a temporary Bailey Bridge for traffic is likely to be ruled out on the grounds of technical difficulty and cost, doing the work early in the year will also mean diversions using minor roads when there is least daylight and greatest likelihood of ice and snow.

These diversions will involve heavy traffic and emergency service vehicles such as fire engines although at the beginning of the year there are less tractors and agricultural traffic.

Let us consider the case for scheduling the work for later in the year.

Getting the job done in the period between the end of the Teme Valley Food Festival in early May and the Tenbury Show in early August has attractions.

It would not interfere with any of the festivals and tourist events, would be ahead of the main summer season and there would presumably be no reason why contractors could not start at 6am and continue until getting on for 10am which would presumably enable them to get the work done that much quicker.

Speed is important because the longer the work takes the more likely people are to change their shopping habits and give Tenbury a miss.

Diversions along minor roads would be safer because of the light and there would be no risk of snow and ice.

Let us know when you think would be the best time to repair the Teme Bridge.