IMPROVEMENTS to Tenbury Town centre that started more than four years ago are still not complete.

And there is no date for the work to be finally finished after, yet another delay has been revealed.

Ken Pollock, who represents Tenbury on Worcestershire County Council, says that he does not know when the job will finally get done.

“I regret to say that we still have not completed the Public Realm work in Teme Street,” he told the Town Council.

“The raised table outside Tesco’s should have been re-laid with the sort of red tarmac used elsewhere,” said Mr Pollock.

“This and the provision of the right seat in the right position are part of the work to be paid for by Tesco’s.

“So far they have been slow in fulfilling their obligations under the S278 agreement and we continue to pursue them on this.

“In addition, we are keen to ensure the black tarmac patches on the footpaths will be replaced by proper York stone pavers in the near future.

“There is continued controversy about the new position of the bus stop.”

The work has been further delayed by a row about street parking.

“When we were planning the Public Realm work in Tenbury, the retailers made it very clear that maintaining the number of on-street parking places was crucial,” Mr Pollock said.

“A long bus needs two or three car lengths at either end of its bus stop, to let it get into and out of its kerb side position. In the new placing no parking spaces are lost in front of the bus stop, and behind it is the bank car park entrance and a disabled parking space.

“This means that on balance, there are several more parking spaces in Teme Street with the new arrangement.

“Clearly, the stationary bus will cause a blockage outside the Tesco entrance, but they are there for a tiny proportion of the day. When not there, the bus stop means none of the parking that was normally full at that point more or less all the time.

“Certainly, some people will have to walk a few dozen yards further to join the bus, but others may walk less. The arriving buses stop at the same place opposite the Regal.

“On balance, I believe the new arrangement is beneficial for bus users, motorists, shoppers and retailers.”

There is also disagreement about if a 20mph speed limit should be extended in the town centre.

“Likewise, there is pressure for extending the 20 mph limit along Cross Street and beyond the primary school on the Bromyard Road,” added Mr Pollock.

“While I was a prime mover behind the lower limit in the Public Realm area, I am not in favour of further extensions.”

One reason the project has taken so long is that the work had to be done in two phases at it has always been, in part dependent on funding from Tesco.