Poole's Twin Sails bridge needs repairs

Both of the lifting sections of the bridge will have to be resurfaced before it can open

The opening of Poole's Twin Sails bridge is to be further delayed after part of the road surface fell off when the bridge was raised.

The new £37m lifting bridge linking Poole port and Hamworthy had been due to open to traffic on 27 February.

Borough of Poole council initially said "small glitches" had forced the delay.

Part of the road surface broke away from the raised bridge on Sunday night. The council said "defective" sections were found on both lifting leaves.

Poole's strategic director Jim Bright said: "After an initial inspection last week revealed an issue with a small section of the road surfacing, the bridge was left raised all night on both Saturday and Sunday.

"At some point between 7.30pm on Sunday and 7am on Monday a small area of defective surfacing came away from the top section of one lifting leaf.

"This incident did not present a hazard and subsequently the contractor has removed a section of the road surface around the area affected."

Mr Bright said an investigation into the cause of the problem would be carried out in the coming days and repairs would follow.

A celebration day to mark the opening of the bridge went ahead as planned on Friday.

The Princess Royal was also driven across the bridge on Monday afternoon.

No new date has been given for the opening of the bridge.