THE long wait is almost over with publication due later this month of the draft orders for the A3 Hindhead tunnel plans.

The weighty tome is expected to include an environmental assessment report, the draft compulsory purchase orders and other legal orders.

A public inquiry, if required, could take place as early as next year, with work on the £150 million plus tunnel scheme due to start in 2005. Work on the actual tunnel construction is scheduled for 2006, with a completion date of 2009.

But the Highways Agency remained tight-lipped this week about the date of the publication of draft orders by the Secretary of State for Transport, Alastair Darling.

The Herald has been led to believe that the release date could be as early as Friday, October 24 and published in conjunction with the Highways Agency's latest A3 newsletter.

Public exhibitions have already been planned and are expected to be held at the Royal British Legion Hall in Beacon Hill and Grayshott Village Hall between Wednesday, October 29, and Friday, October 31.

The Wider Reference Group, made up of representatives from organisations with an interest in the tunnel, is likely to be the first group to discuss the document at its meeting on Tuesday, October 28.

Another meeting the week before, on Thursday, October 23, has been called by Waverley Borough Council, when representatives from the Highways Agency, the contractors for the massive scheme, Balfour Beatty, The National Trust, Surrey Hills, Haslemere Town Council, Haslemere Chamber of Trade, Surrey County Council, Save the Old A3 (STOAT) campaign, Thursley Parish Council and East Hampshire District Council, will also debate the hottest issue in town.

The draft orders come after more than 20 years of deliberations on how to solve the problems of the area and the notorious A3.

Among the latest alterations to the plans is the proposed downgrading of a public byway to a bridleway, a demand made by the National Trust to prevent rat-running along a byway open to all traffic close to the A3 - BOAT 500.

At a meeting of East Hampshire District Council's rural affairs panel last week, to which the press were not invited, Diana Owen, the southern manager for the National Trust, is understood to have announced the proposal that the byway would not be open to motorised traffic once the tunnel is built.

Commenting on the meeting, the Grayshott East Hampshire district councillor, Ferris Cowper, told The Herald: "I can't understand why the press wasn't invited, all the meetings should be held in the public domain.

"I am hoping that the Waverley process will also in held in public."

Haslemere's Surrey county councillor, Christine Stevens, confirmed that talks had taken place to find a solution to BOAT 500 and progress was being made.