THE new £27m Whitehill and Bordon relief road is due to be completed by the early autumn, with Hampshire County Council remaining positive in light of contractor Carillion going into liquidation.

“Hampshire County Council still plans to complete the Whitehill Bordon relief road, and we are working with the official receiver, Price Waterhouse Cooper, to achieve a beneficial outcome,” the council’s executive member for environment and transport, Rob Humby, has said. “We still intend to complete the surfacing and ancillary works to enable access to the new showhomes from the south end of the relief road by the spring of 2018. The north end of the works, to tie in with phase one, we hope will be completed by the summer or early autumn. Further information will be provided as negotiations continue.”

What is the project?

To support the regeneration of Whitehill and Bordon, the county council said it was delivering the 2.6-mile relief road in two phases (see map below) to: provide a free-flowing alternative to the A325 High Street; provide access to new housing developments; reduce traffic on the A325 and to reduce the dividing of the town (“community severance”) by the current A325.

The route of the road, on which work started in September 2015 having been approved in January of that year, starts in north Bordon, at the A325 Farnham Road junction at the former Louisburg Barracks, and passes through the Ministry of Defence area to the west of the town and reconnects with the A325 in the south, in Whitehill, at the A325 Petersfield Road, Liphook Road and Firgrove Road junction.

Except for a short section of dual carriageway at the northern end, the road will be a two-way single carriageway with a separate path for pedestrians and cyclists and kerbs.

First phase of relief road

Construction of the road’s first phase, the 0.6-mile (1km) northern section through the former Louisburg Barracks, that connects with the A325, was completed in October 2016 by the county council’s contractor Raymond Brown Construction, based in Chandlers Ford, on behalf of the Homes and Communities Agency. Construction started in September 2015 on this section, which provides access to the 500 new homes being built at Louisburg as well as the new Future Skills (construction-training) Centre, TechForest technology park and the Base Bordon Innovation Centre at Broxhead House. A roundabout connects the A325 with this northern section - Louisburg Avenue - and there are a two further roundabouts within the former barracks site.

Second phase of relief road

Hampshire County Council chose Carillion, in Wolverhampton, to build the two-mile (3.1km) southern section of the relief road. This second phase of construction on the road started in October 2016 and the £20m scheme connects Liphook Road, in the south, with the completed phase-one section at Louisburg, via the west of the town.

Passing between the Bordon Garrison redevelopment area (where a new town centre, schools, leisure centre, cinema and homes are being built) and the Hogmoor Inclosure green recreation area, there is a double roundabout junction at the southern tie-in with the A325.

When the road opens, there will also be two traffic-signal-controlled junctions - one to access the new garrison housing development (junction two on map above), and one at the intersection with Oakhanger Road (junction three on map). This southern section is being principally funded by the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to the tune of £15.5m, with the county council providing £5m. This second section had been due for completion in the spring this year, three months ahead of schedule, as announced by Carillion on January 8 this year. However, whether this happens, following the announcement that Carillion had gone into liquidation on January 15, time will tell.

At the double roundabout junction (junction one on map above), connecting the relief road with the A325, there will be a retention pond for rainwater, and an existing culvert under the A325 roundabout is being lined. This junction was completed and opened to traffic in October last year.

There are a number of ponds along the road designed to “store water before releasing it slowly into the existing water courses,” according to the county council. “In addition to preventing downstream flooding, they also provide new habitats for wildlife.”

Between this A325 junction (junction one) and the traffic-light T-junction and spur road to the new garrison housing estate (junction two), the plan has been to fill the ditch, occupied by the old railway line, with material to form a road foundation. The new single carriageway is being constructed with lighting and drainage and an acoustic barrier has been completed on both sides of the former cutting to reduce traffic noise.

Before going bust, Carillion had started construction of the housing-development access road (junction two).

Between this housing-development junction and the traffic-signal junction with Oakhanger Road (junction three) is a section of the road that skirts the western edge of the Whitehill and Bordon Enterprise Park.

A final section of road connects the Oakhanger Road junction with the completed first phase of the road. Within this section is the Oxney Moss culvert, which will take additional water flows from the new housing developments.

Ecology

Large numbers of common amphibians were found in Forey’s Pond in the Hogmoor Inclosure, to the west of the new road. According to Carillion, any amphibians can use two tunnels created under the road (see map) to travel between Forey’s Pond and the area to the east of the road.

Several badger setts were located near the road, the firm said and, to prevent disturbance to these animals, a single sett was temporarily fenced off and protected for the duration of the work.

“Adjacent habitats within The Croft and Oxney Moss Ecological Mitigation Areas will provide improved areas for these animals to feed in, with tunnels to facilitate crossing the road, constructed within the Oxney Moss,” said Carillion.

One bat tree roost was discovered ahead of work, according to the firm. “A Natural England Mitigation Licence, to allow the bats to be moved, is in progress,” Carillion has said. “To enhance and encourage habitat in the area, 20 bat boxes and 15 bird boxes have been installed. This is in addition to those being erected by the developer within The Croft and Oxney Moss Ecological Areas.

“Throughout the length of the completed road, replacement habitats - like woodland, heath and acid grassland - are being developed to replace and enhance the habitats within, and next to, the new road.”

Who are the key players?

The regeneration of Whitehill and Bordon has involved a number of partners, including the county council, East Hampshire District Council, the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency and the Ministry of Defence.

The county council, which has responsibility for the county’s roads, chose Raymond Brown Construction to build the first phase of the road in the north of the town and Carillion to build the second phase. At the time Carillion, which is now in liquidation, was a leading international support-services business and its civil-engineering division was delivering phase two of the road. With more than 46,000 employees, it has been operating in the UK, Canada and the Middle East with annual revenues said to be over £4bn.

Enterprise M3, which has part funded the road, is a business-led Local Enterprise Partnership that works to secure economic growth at a sub-national level. Its Local Growth Fund was established to kick start infrastructure and other projects to drive economic growth in the M3 corridor, which includes Bordon.