RISING concerns over the safety of pedestrians and road users trying to access and cross the A31 from Lymington Bottom Road and Boyneswood Road at Four Marks have led to calls for a halt to development until these issues have been resolved.

An increase in existing use coupled with new development has led to fears that these junctions are already operating to capacity, and this is before hundreds more houses are built in these areas, with the associated increase in traffic movement on the surrounding road network.

Coupled with continuing fears over the safety of the historic Boyneswood Road railway bridge, the pressure is on Hampshire Highways to do the right thing and look again at the plight of a village swamped by development but without the infrastructure to cope.

It comes amid fierce criticism from residents over what some view as the failure of Hampshire County Council to take into consideration the true extent of increasing traffic levels from escalating development and of East Hampshire planners in approving applications knowing the infrastructure is not fit for purpose.

As the traffic levels have grown, adding increased urgency to calls for the county council to address traffic problems arising from the construction of “a number of substantial sites in close proximity to each other and all happening at the same time”, Hampshire Highways development control has commissioned a report from civil engineering consultants Atkins to look into the situation.

While this is still work in progress, according to county councillor Mark Kemp-Gee, one thing has already become crystal clear and that is that the number of potential traffic movements emanating from these new developments, when added to existing and future growth movements, was woefully understated at the time that planning permissions were granted.

“It follows, therefore, that the degree of safety engineering at traffic bottlenecks (such as these) must be revisited,” he said.

No-one has been fighting more fiercely for this than district councillor Ingrid Thomas who, together with Mark Kemp-Gee and Medstead Parish Council chairman Roy Pullen, has been meeting with county council highways officers to discuss how to cope with the impact of four large development sites on the Four Marks/South Medstead side of the A31, where work is about to start.

Mrs Thomas said: “One of the outcomes is that Hampshire County Council commissioned a report into the junctions at Lymington Bottom and Boyneswood Road but it is yet to be published because they (Atkins) forgot to include the Cala Homes site for 75 houses in Lymington Bottom Road.”

Key problems on both roads are the railway bridges, and in particular the Victorian bridge in Boyneswood Road which is too narrow to safely accommodate vehicles and pedestrians.

Both are owned by the Mid Hants Railway, the heritage steam line, which has become so concerned over the safety of the Boyneswood Road bridge that it recently commissioned its own road safety audit. The audit has criticised the proposal by the county council to put in a ‘virtual pavement’, saying that it would fail to protect the safety of pedestrians, and that the only way to do so would be to implement priority use for vehicles with ‘give way’ signs on the southbound approach, together with the construction of a raised footway. This would also require the raising of the bridge parapets which would then be too low, especially for horse riders and cyclists.

Mid Hants Railway chairman Colin Chambers said: “We are very concerned about the safety, particularly of pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders using the bridge, so we have handed it over to professionals to look at the problem.”

One of the options now being discussed by the county council and Mid Hants Railway bosses is for the construction, in the longer term, of a separate pedestrian bridge which, while there would be an associated cost, would be in the best interests of user safety.

It is a solution that may help to alleviate the concerns of residents, whose fears have been fuelled by a road accident on Boyneswood Road involving a small boy which, while not on the bridge itself, has served to highlight issues that they believe were not properly assessed by Hampshire County Council two years ago.

On the bridge, campaigner David Curtis said: “The kerb was recommended in the initial safety audit but ignored as it would mean alterations to the bridge parapet if a proper pavement was put in. This would have caused a significant headache for the developers and their proposed plan but it should not have justified Hampshire County Council and EHDC not insisting on it.

“Had Hampshire County Council done the initial traffic assessment properly, and addressed the concerns raised by residents, local councillors, and this latest Mid Hants Railway audit, they could never have recommended approval of the Friars Oak plan to EHDC.

“The planning approval was based on an inadequate report and supported by a poorly considered traffic proposal which is being shown as inadequate.”

As a result, Mr Curtis is now calling on Hampshire County Council to conduct a complete review and re-assessment and, if required, change their initial recommendation to East Hampshire District Council.