FARNHAM MP Jeremy Hunt has called for urgent action to improve road safety on the A325 Wrecclesham Road, in a bid to ensure last week’s “heart-wrenching tragedy” is never repeated.

On Tuesday last week at around 11.30am, local mother-of-two Amy Harris, 38, who founded Farnham Dog Walking in January, died together with a client’s puppy, in a collision involving a white Peugeot Boxer van. Mrs Harris had just collected Cooper, a client’s puppy, and they were walking alongside the A325 down Wrecclesham Hill.

Despite the best efforts from those at the scene, first responders, paramedics and the helicopter emergency medical service, they both sadly died at the scene.

“Amy was a loving and caring wife and mother to two children and will be missed terribly,” her family said in a statement requesting “privacy and sensitivity at this difficult time”.

Calls for urgent road safety improvements were made by Wrecclesham resident Robert Dunne, who was first at the scene of the tragic accident, which occurred just outside his house, and who performed CPR for 15 minutes until the paramedics arrived.

Responding to residents’ long-standing concerns about road safety on that stretch of the A325, the health secretary met with them at the scene to hear their concerns firsthand last Friday, together with local county councillors Wyatt Ramsdale and Pat Frost.

Mr Hunt told The Herald: “This was a heart-wrenching tragedy which must never be repeated. Wrecclesham residents made an incredibly powerful case to me for new measures to slow down traffic through the village, as speeding is clearly a problem on this stretch of road, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing police investigation into this particular incident involving Mrs Harris.

“I have written to David Hodge, leader of Surrey County Council, asking for his urgent support. We should not have to wait for these things to happen before acting - but now this terrible event has happened there is really no excuse but to act.”

Wrecclesham resident Paul Davies, one of a group of neighbours who have been calling for speed reduction measures for many years, reiterated their concerns following the tragedy in a letter to Mr Hunt asking for an urgent meeting.

“I am again writing to you to demand immediate action be taken to make this road safe,” he wrote. “The obvious solution is to finally put the plans for the long overdue Wrecclesham relief road in place.

“However, understanding that this may take many more years to effect, a more immediate solution should be sought to the address the risk to local residents and the starting point should be serious and concerted endeavours to reduce the average speed of users of the A325 as it passes through the village.

“I live a few metres from the location of Tuesday’s accident and a few more metres away from the Vehicle Activated Sign (VAS) that is near the junction of Quennells Hill and the start of Wrecclesham Hill. Despite this tragic accident only days ago, anyone standing within view of the VAS, which can’t be more than 200m metres from the location of the fatalities, will see this being activated by vehicle after vehicle as they stream through the village in excess of the 30mph speed limit.

“There has recently been speed monitoring work done at the entry to the 30mph limit at the top of the hill and I will be seeking the data from this. I would be very surprised if this didn’t contradict the response from Waverley neighbourhood inspector Tom Budd, when I raised this issue with you previously, that ‘the perception of the vehicles speed from the local residents was often significantly different from that of the actual speed that we recorded’.

“Daily life on Wrecclesham Hill, whether or not it is with the benefit of being within clear sight of a VAS, makes it clear to anyone that cares to investigate this issue properly, that speeding is a significant problem on this road.

“I will again extend my invitation to you to come and visit the area, spend 10 minutes stood by the side of the road and see for yourself that in the absence of any education, engineering or enforcement that drivers will continue to flout the speed limit and place the local residents at risk of another tragedy as we saw earlier in the week.

“Let us hope that something gets done before another tragedy happens.”

• Anyone who witnessed the collision or think they may have dashcam footage from the immediate area between 11.15am and 11.30am on September 19 should contact the Surrey Police Collision Investigation Unit on 01483 639922 quoting reference P17237973.