AS the debate rumbles on over the endlessly controversial £150 million Hindhead tunnel, local people will get the chance to have their say on the latest changes to the scheme in a series of public exhibitions next week.

Three exhibitions will be held in Grayshott and Beacon Hill to promote the revisions, which can also be seen in issue five of the Highways Agency's A3 newsletter.

The newsletter - which describes the changes as "an important milestone" in the project - is delivered to homes in the area.

Visitors will have the opportunity to discuss any point of concern with the A3 team, including project leader Paul Arnold. It will be one of the last opportunities before the Highways Agency publishes the draft orders and environmental statement in October this year.

Among the main changes are; revision to the Hammer Lane area; retaining more trees in Tyndall's Wood; the relocation of the Boundless Road junction and the addition of an underpass at Greensand Way.

The realignment of the Bramshott Chase link will make it closer to the A3 and eliminate a northbound slip road from the A3 on to Hammer Lane, aimed at reducing rat-running along Hammer Lane and Woolmer Hill Road.

More detailed investigation has shown that it is not feasible to provide a northbound slip road from the A3 on to Hammer Lane as previously shown, the agency has claimed. Alternative layouts are being investigated. Another significant alteration is the relocation of the Boundless Road junction. The junction has now been moved into the area of landscape earthworks adjacent to Boundless Road. The new road has been further lowered and a six-metre-high bund provided on the east side to hide traffic from view and to reduce noise levels. There will be a lane from the junction to the existing A3 to maintain access to properties in the Devil's Punch Bowl. The Highways Agency claims this will reduce cost, visual intrusion and environmental impact.

New plans include extending the bored section of the tunnel, by moving the road alignment north to reduce tree felling and impact on Tyndall's Wood. The Greensand Way underpass has been added, with the two gaps in the A3 central reserve closed.

The exhibitions will include a computerised diagram of tunnel safety features as well as the changes. Exhibitions take place from 2 pm until 9 pm on Thursday, July 17, and Friday, July 18, at the British Legion Hall in Beacon Hill Road, Beacon Hill, and at Grayshott Village Hall from 10 am - 4 pm on Saturday, July 19. An exhibition will follow the publication of draft orders.

And an East Hampshire district councillor has hit out at EHDC over a meeting which will decide on what policy it will recommend to the council's decision-making cabinet over the A3 at Hindhead.

Discussions take place on the same night as another important meeting on the tunnel scheme. EHDC's rural affairs and access panel was expected to meet last night (Thursday) to discuss the matter.

But the district councillor for Grayshott, Ferris Cowper, a member of STOAT (Save The Old A Three) questions the judgment of holding the public meeting for which he claims there has been little publicity, at almost the same time as members of the "wider reference group" made up of local organisations and other interested parties meet at the Royal British Legion Hall in Beacon Hill

Thursday's EHDC meeting follows an area community committee meeting in Liphook last month when more than 100 people turned up to discuss the topic.

"Thursday, July 10, is a vital landmark in the resolution of what to do about the old A3 at Hindhead," said Mr Cowper on the EHDC meeting. "It represents a meeting of vital importance to everyone who is concerned about this crucial local issue."

In a statement to The Herald he asks: "Who knows that this meeting is happening? Apart from the inner sanctum of councillors and officers, I think no one.

"Clearly this should be a well-publicised meeting with the views of the panel members, the ensuing debate and the final recommendation, fully in the public eye."

He questioned the briefing of panel members over the issue, only one of whom he claimed he recognised at the Liphook meeting. "How will other panel members know what the public feels?" asked Mr Cowper.

He believes that none of the panel members has attended STOAT meetings and may only have "one side of the story - the government's side.

"The council's policy makers should be fully informed of all sides of an argument and should make their decision under the scrutinising gaze of the public who elected them.Anything else is not democracy."

Leader of EHDC, Elizabeth Cartwright, refuted Mr Cowper's claims that the council was not listening to local opinion. "The portfolio holder, Margaret Day, a corporate director, Lynda Peacock, and the author of the council's report on the issue were all attendance at the debate at the area community committee at Liphook last Tuesday."

She said Thursday's rural access and rural affairs policy panel was organised a year in advance and made public and that the Highways Agency organised its presentation "at very short notice without consultation with us".

But she said the panel will include all the comments made by STOAT and local residents so they can be taken into account.