HAMPSHIRE County Council engineers have defended themselves against criticism over resurfacing work on the B3004 Alton-to- Bordon road at East Worldham. Local residents believe they have been "shortchanged" 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 being closed for four weeks, he was "amazed" to find that the county council had "cheated" the community by only doing part of the work needed to repair "a dangerous piece of road" between Kingsley and East Worldham. He said: "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, the county council 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. "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. "When the A325 carriageway through Alice Holt and Bucks Horn Oak was replaced, drainage was an integral part of the work. "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." Another website 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 Hampshire County Council has dismally failed." But county engineers have pointed out that, with only up to £85,000 in the budget, they had to prioritise 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 to extend the 40mph speed restriction along the road from Kingsley to East Worldham. According to the council, the work took four weeks because 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. Heavy rainfall 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.
