AN apology has been issued by Hampshire County Council after Grayshott residents living in Beech Lane received no advance warning their road would be closed for resurfacing work for two days last week.

When one of the contractor’s machines broke down on the second day, the work continued into last Thursday, which then delayed bin collections.

Councillor Rob Humby, executive member for environment and transport, said: “I would like to apologise to the residents of Beech Lane for the lack of advance warning for the resurfacing work our highways teams carried out there last week.

“We endeavour to let people know of works taking place in their immediate area by letter and signs on site.

“In this case, the standards I would expect to see in engaging with the community were not met, and I will be finding out why this was.

“The resurfacing work was carried out as part of our Operation Resilience programme, a long term strategy which aims to make Hampshire’s highways network more resilient to the impact of heavy traffic and extreme weather.”

Residents complained to Grayshott county councillor Floss Mitchell, who took it up with highways officers.

She said: “What should have happened is that residents received a letter and that warning signs were put up in advance of the closure of Beech Lane.

“However I am told that the letters did not go out and the signs were not put up. This was entirely human error.

“What seems to have happened is that a new procedure that was put in place following similar problems with the Crossways Road closure was not implemented in this case.”