REPAIRS have been carried out to Poole’s Twin Sails Bridge overnight.

Workmen were busy re-laying road surfacing on the new £21.6million structure from 7.30pm last night in order for it to return to its lifting schedule today.

The bridge’s 9.15pm lift was cancelled for the repairs, which had been postponed from Monday following discussions with contractor Hochtief (UK) Construction Limited’s subcontractors.

Resurfacing the bridge across the Back Water Channel was expected to take around three to four hours and then another five or six to cool.

It was carried out at night so maritime traffic would not be disrupted.

The Twin Sails Bridge will open in early April, but an exact date has not been set, a Borough of Poole spokesman said.

Jim Bright, strategic director, said: “Responsibility for the planning and scheduling of the work rests with our contractor Hochtief.

“The weather forecast is good for this week so the change to the schedule should make no difference to plans to open the bridge in early April, subject to the successful completion of the remedial work.”

Borough of Poole has said there will be no added cost to the taxpayer, but that details of Hochtief’s penalty payments for delays to the £37million project is commercially sensitive information and cannot be revealed.