Motoring & Transport, Poole | Posted on July 21st, 2025 | return to news

£6 million set to be spent on Poole bridges

Twin Sails Bridge and Poole Bridge have both been out of action over the past few years, so funding will reduce the need for unplanned repairs.

Provided the full council meeting of Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP) Council is in agreement at its meeting next week, £6m is to be spent on Twin Sails Bridge and Poole Bridge. Over the years, both bridges have been out of action for periods of time due to various faults.

There are 10,000 journeys across each bridge every day, and the recommended improvements will increase the life of critical components and reduce the need for unplanned repairs.

The funding allocation comes entirely from the strategic Community Infrastructure Levy — a capital pot that developers pay into; — so the improvements will not be funded by Council Tax.

Key tasks have been outlined and proposed as part of the report approved by Cabinet — with both bridges expected to be upgraded over the next three years.

Procurement of specialist inputs and design processes need to take place before engineers can get to work on the bridges and will be a priority in the current financial year.

Work at Poole Bridge will address corrosion which has taken place over many years with repairs to the corroded steel and re-painting of the entire structure to protect the bridge from further corrosion.

Twin Sails, meanwhile, will benefit from changes to the design of the mechanism that lifts the bridges; the existing structure has required regular maintenance, which would likely continue into the future without the proposed improvements.

The investment will also see four new digital information panels installed which will operate on an upgraded system resulting in less maintenance and greater reliability. The new signs will be a solid-state design replacing the existing end of life electro-mechanical signs.

Cllr Andy Hadley, portfolio holder for Climate Response, Environment and Energy at BCP Council, said: “I am pleased that we’ve been able to set out a clear pathway for future improvements to both bridges to Hamworthy and the Port of Poole.

“Earlier in the year, we established reliability upgrades to Twin Sails and Poole Bridge as one of the council’s key priorities for strategic spending.

“These recommendations demonstrate our commitment to the thousands of people who use the bridges on a daily basis – whether motorists, pedestrians, wheelers, by bus or on the water.”