A ROAD south of Alton has been heavily criticised by a rural watchdog this week for having too many signs, lines and safety warnings.

The B3006, which runs from the A3 to the outskirts of Alton via Selborne, came under fire on Monday after the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) issued a challenge to highway authorities across the country to save the countryside from the "clutter" of excessive signage and road markings.

Described by the CPRE as a "typical Hampshire B-road", the B3006 was found to have 326 items along its length, working out at 45 items of "clutter " per mile.

The group recorded 207 safety signs in just 7.5 miles of road.

Paul Hamblin, CPRE's head of transport policy, said that the excess of signage and markings amounted to a "creeping urbanisation" of rural roads.

"Highway authorities have an important job to do in the countryside," he said. "Traffic is rising faster in rural than in urban areas and the speed of vehicles is a real problem for many villages and country lanes. 

"But responding to these challenges needs to be done in ways which are sensitive to the character of the countryside."

He described some of the worst hit small villages as resembling "a shop window for traffic-calming manufacturers" while saying the painted lines along country lanes made them "look like race tracks". 

"Each intrusion on its own may seem innocuous," he said, "but overall we lose a sense of rural character."

Alongside other causes, the CPRE blames the increase of roadside furniture on the "slavish following of national standards" at the expense of rural concerns and authorities' concerns about being found liable for accidents leading them to "feel the need to sign every conceivable danger".

Many safety groups claim the roadside measures save lives, but rural campaigners see them as a blight on the landscape and, in many cases, counter-productive.

Selborne Traffic Action Group (STAG) maintains that the traffic-calming measures the highway authority put in place along the B3006 at the beginning of the year, at a cost of £68,000, have done nothing to cut the threat of speeding motorists.

Peter Bayless, Hampshire County Council's traffic management and road safety chief engineer, said: "While the county council is conscious of the visual impact which road safety measures have on rural roads, this must be balanced with the need to keep our roads safe.

"There are several low-cost safety schemes on the B3006, specifically to treat locations identified as high-risk accident sites; there is also a traffic-calming scheme put in after pressure from the local community and in agreement with the parish council to slow traffic on the approaches to Selborne.

He said that the council's duty to attempt to reduce accidents can often be in conflict with "environmental considerations".

He added: "We try where appropriate to design such measures to take account of the environment.We also undertook a review of clearways throughout the county which resulted in over 2,000 signs being removed from rural areas."

As part of the CPRE's "Clutter Challenge", Hampshire highway authority has been asked to "develop a policy" that will "help protect countryside character", "produce a traffic management manual and design guide which helps the authority develop less intrusive ways of managing traffic in the countryside" and "undertake a 'clutter audit'".

Urging authorities "to develop a more enlightened approach", Mr Hamblin said the challenge would combat "restrictive standards, inflexible working practices, simple cost-cutting exercises, and poor design."

"With a renewed commitment, highway authorities could make a significant positive difference to the countryside," he said.