URGENT work to improve safety at the A325 railway bridge in Wrecclesham Road will be undertaken by Surrey County Council, the Herald understands, after another over-height lorry smashed into the structure and overturned late last Wednesday (December 5).

Police were called to the latest incident under the village’s beleagured railway bridge at around 11.30pm - with officers bemoaning via Twitter that the driver of the HGV “failed to take note of the numerous height warning signs” before colliding with the bridge.

Fortunately nobody was hurt and recovery specialists JD Motors worked overnight to remove the stricken lorry, clearing the road at around 7am - but not before inconveniencing residents and other road users, including staff and pupils at Weydon School which advised staff and students to find an alternative route.

However, it is - says campaign group Wrecclesham Village Voice - the tenth such incident at the bridge in the past 18 months, and responding MP Jeremy Hunt has hailed a commitment by Surrey County Council’s highways department to take immediate action to avoid a tragedy on one of Farnham’s busiest walk-to-school routes - while calling on Network Rail to undertake similar urgent safety measures.

Mr Hunt told the Herald: “This latest bridge strike in Wrecclesham further highlights the need for urgent action. I am pleased that Surrey Highways have now confirmed that they have selected their contractor for the new Vehicle Activated Signs either side of the bridge. I am told this contract will be placed before the end of the year for installation in the first quarter of 2019.

“However, Network Rail still has its role to play and I have contacted them again to ask them to expedite the repainting of the steel bridge collision beam to make it more prominent and visible to drivers.

“I have also requested that before nesting seasons starts again, the trees and scrub on both sides of the bridge (which slightly obscures the line of sight to the bridge and the collision protection beam) are cut back as a priority.”

A spokesman for Surrey County Council confirmed a contractor has been appointed to install the new electronic signs, adding: “There’s no date yet but we’re working to get it all sorted out soon”.

Wrecclesham residents once again expressed anger and frustration in response to the latest bridge strike on social media - with one Twitter user posting in response to the incident: “This bridge is genuinely a tragedy waiting to happen. It’s so lucky that this didn’t happen whilst children were walking to Weydon School.”

Many others voiced concern on the Wrecclesham Village Voice (WVV) Facebook page, and Lynley Griffiths, of the community group set up in the wake of pedestrian Amy Harris’ death in the village last year, told the Herald: “It is time now for our councillors and MP to increase their work with WVV in demanding improvements to the A325 at Wrecclesham.

“Surrey Highways and Network Rail should be required to become proactive rather than reactive in their management of this risk, and take immediate short term and planned long term action to reduce the risks to pedestrians and other road users, similar to all other industries who are legally required to manage safety.

“Ten events of this magnitude over 18 months would, in any other industry, be considered an inappropriate management of risk.”

County councillor for Farnham South, Wyatt Ramsdale said: “Safety around the railway bridge is a most serious issue and I share the frustration of local residents that more has not been done sooner. We were promised and have got improvements to the signage. We were told Network Rail had undertaken to paint parts of the bridge to make the safety issues more evident, but this has yet to happen. We were told the Vehicle Activated Signs (VAS) for high vehicles would be repaired and later told replaced. The contractual process is under way, we are told by officers at Surrey.

“Lynley Griffiths, on behalf of Wrecclesham Village Voice, is right to call for councillors to ‘increase their work in demanding improvements to the A325 at Wrecclesham’.

“Ten incidents of this nature over 18 months is clear evidence that more is required and councillors working with Wrecclesham Village Voice have secured agreement to improvements. We need to see those improvements happen.”