HAMPSHIRE County Council engineers have defended criticism of resurfacing work, carried out on the B3004 Alton to Bordon road at East Worldham. Local residents believe they have been "short changed" because only part of the road has been resurfaced. But engineers say they have done as much as limited funds would allow. Writing on the Kingsley village website, resident Vernon Pearce said that while pleased that the road is open again, after four weeks' closure he was "amazed" to find that HCC had "cheated" the community by only doing part of the work needed to repair what is regarded as "a dangerous piece of road" between Kingsley and East Worldham. "The whole stretch along Green Street between the bottom of Worldham Hill and the entrance to Rookery Farm has subsided and there are large cracks, especially near the centre of the road, which are particularly dangerous to anyone overtaking on that straight stretch. Instead of repairing the whole section, HCC has chosen to replace about one-third of the length of carriageway from the bottom of the hill up as far as the entrance to Oakley Farm," said Mr Pearce. "Not only have they only partly finished the job, they have made no attempt to treat the cause of the subsidence by putting in drainage to remove the surface water that washes away the subsoil and damages the road foundations. You will notice a large amount of standing water in the trees on the right as you go towards Alton. When the A325 carriageway through Alice Holt and Bucks Horn Oak was replaced, drainage was an integral part of the work." Mr Pearce believes scrimping on the work to be a false economy. "Just as the last expensive work on the B3004 only lasted a little over five years, this latest work will soon be undone again and the taxpayer will have to foot the bill and the residents of Kingsley will be inconvenienced once more." His question reflects the mood of other "kinglseyblog" contributors: "Why can't anyone do a job properly and why do we continue to allow ourselves to be short-changed?" One contributor wrote: "The state of the repaired road is little short of a disgrace, there being great undulations remaining on the Kingsley side of the 300 yards or so that they have bothered to reconstruct. Be in no doubt villagers – you have been shafted, taken for a long ride via Bentley or Selborne for a month while HCC has failed dismally." Another resident complained: "Consider the enormous damage that has been caused on all of the lanes for a very long way around the B3004 closure. The verges and embankments are in a shocking state, potholes have appeared all over the place due to excessive car use and / or heavy vehicles." In defending the work, county engineers have pointed out that with only £80 to 85k in the budget, they had to prioritise their efforts by selecting the worst part of the road for resurfacing. They had chosen a 500-metre stretch of carriageway from the cottages at the bottom of Worldham Hill to the main entrance of Oakley Farm because that was felt to be most in need of attention. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to finish erecting signs which have served to extend the 40 mph speed restriction along the road from Kingsley through to East Worldham. According to an HCC spokesman, the reason the work had taken four weeks to complete was that contractors had to dig out a half- metre-deep, two-metre-wide trench along the length of the repair section which then had to be refilled and resurfaced. The process had not been helped by heavy rainfall which had caused delays with the trench work. She added that the intention was to put in a bid for funding for further repairs to the road in future budgets, but that the state of the B3004 would be considered alongside other roads in the county on a priority basis. In the meantime, the B3004 has resumed its role as part of the strategic road network and a designated lorry route for vehicles servicing local minerals and waste sites. And it looks set to act as part of an unofficial diversion route for traffic needing to avoid the B3006 Alton to Selborne road, which is to be closed for a short period from Monday, February 26, to facilitate major road works through the village of Selborne.
