CALLS were made at Surrey County Council’s Waverley Local Committee for Highways England to take swifter action to reduce the “overflow” traffic congestion caused by emergency and planned closures of the A3 Hindhead tunnel.

The committee promised to take up the cudgels on behalf of protestors from Farnham to Haslemere, who want the agency to improve its traffic management to avoid the knock-on problems caused on small country lanes.

At the meeting, Highways England’s operations and maintenance team gave a presentation but came under fire from members for not providing more “concrete” facts.

The agency said it was trying to minimise the need for closures due to routine works and technology issues, and recognised the need to improve how it holds up and turns around traffic during an emergency closure.

“Highways England are working hard to minimise disruption to road users on the A3 at Hindhead and to surrounding communities,” the team said. “We are acutely aware of the inconvenience that tunnel closures cause to Waverley residents, and residents should be assured that, after safety, tunnel availability is our top priority.”

Its proposals to manage traffic diversions better include minimising closures as much as possible and installing “better signs” on the approach to the tunnel, plus information signs at the barriers.

Some improvement works have been done to the Thursley interchange and the agency said it is liaising with parish, town and borough councils, Surrey Police and Transport Focus, to find further solutions, such as introducing width and height restrictions on certain roads.

The agency met with Surrey Police and hopes to get its own staff accredited to turn around vehicles for prolonged or unplanned closures.

Committee chairman Victoria Young (Waverley Eastern Villages), said: “I was disappointed at the presentation, it mostly covered things we already knew, such as the closures and that it’s very inconvenient to the people.

“I think we were hoping for more concrete information, like how much it actually closes. I am disappointed that there are no statistics available and actually how things are going to move forward.”

Vice-chairman Haslemere county councillor Richard Hampson said: “Haslemere suffers issues during the closures at the Hindhead tunnel. Could you simply outline the alternate route for the closure of the tunnel, for traffic that is trapped past the turn off for example for the Hogs Back because you get a build up of traffic after that.

“Could you describe your alternate routes. I’m making the assumption that is a basic planning consideration. Could you then describe the further control methods within that.

“Your comment ‘Surrey County Council to investigate’, leads us to the conclusion that there is a problem created by Highways England that causes the congestion, and this has now been pushed to Surrey County Council.”

Jerry Hyman (Farnham Castle ward), requested the committee be given the data for the tunnel concerning reasons for closures and closure times.

Pat Frost (Farnham, Wrecclesham and Rowledge), said: “We seem to be concentrating very much on Thursley. I have raised the issue of problems with the A325, as it affects Farnham, if you are coming from the south coast that is the only exit you can come off, if the tunnel is closed.

“If people coming up from Portsmouth know that the tunnel is closed, the only exit they can make is on the A325, which goes through my ward.

“Only the other day we had a fatality on that road. I’m not saying it is because of the tunnel. But it is a very serious problem that we face in Farnham. I find it unbelievable that with the long list of people you are consulting, Farnham Town Council is not one of them.

“We have enough problems in the town with congestion and air quality, without having to cope with the problems when the tunnel is closed. Directing all the traffic through the A325 and the villages is just not acceptable.”