SELBORNEÕS Traffic Action Group (STAG) has hit out at Hampshire County Council for poor traffic planning which has resulted in a 50 per cent increase in vehicles using the B3006.

And for refusing to install a properly controlled crossing within a 20 mph school zone, both of which are considered good practice in other parts of the UK.

STAG took centre stage at East Hampshire District CouncilÕs North West Area Community Committee on Tuesday to make a clear, factual presentation of the problems experienced on the B3006 through Selborne which, they say, are having a profound effect on quality of life.

Their aim was to gain district council support - support which local cllr Warwick Womack insisted should be ward-wide since the villages of Kingsley, Worldham and Oakhanger were experiencing similar problems and any solution offered in one area would have an impact on the others.

While there to fight their own corner, STAGÕS was not a ÒNIMBYÓ approach. ÒWe are aware that we are not unique in Selborne and that other villages in the locality suffer similar difficulties, Ò said STAG representative, Caroline Rye. ÒHowever, we are the Selborne Traffic Action Group and have therefore made a particular study of the problem in our village.Õ

The figures were startling. According to STAG, on average around 9,000 cars pass through Selborne every day, and during the rush hours this results in one car passing roughly every second. Most of it exceeds the 30 mph speed limit at some point through the village.

To put 9,000 cars per day into perspective, Mrs Rye pointed out that the A31 carries just 1,500 (five per cent) more cars a day than Selborne and both the A339 and the A32 carry considerably less (A339 - 6,600 and A32 - 5,500).

ÒIn effect, Selborne is a village which straddles an unofficial ÔAÕ class road, carrying ÔAÕ class levels of traffic, travelling, in places, at speeds more appropriate to a motorway,Ó she said.

STAG believes the high numbers of fast moving vehicles which use the B3006 have come as a direct result of it being used as an unofficial link between the new A3 and the A31, both of which form part of HCCÕs Strategic Road Network (SRN). A change in priority at Greatham which channels traffic from the A3 onto the B3006 rather than the A325 is though to have added to the problem.

STAG believes EHDC should support its cause because this increase in traffic is interfering with quality of life and because it is believed that SelborneÕs reputation as a major centre of tourism in the region could be under threat.

Well in excess of 34,000 people a year visit Selborne which is due to become a key part of the new South Downs National Park but it is feared the traffic could force people away.

Since STAG was formed in 2000, it has raised awareness of the problem and is now working together with Selborne Parish Council and consultants WS Atkins to develop solutions. At the beginning of the year HCC proposed a two-stage plan - the first part being a Safer Routes to School (SRS) scheme which, since February, has doubled in cost to over £60,000 but will not include a controlled crossing or 20 mph zone.

That will have to wait for phase II which will not be considered until between 2006 and 2011 and only then if funds allow.

Unsurprisingly, both STAG and the Parish Council have rejected the scheme but, despite widespread unhappiness, HCC is expected to go ahead.

STAG would like to introduce its own 20 mph advisory zone which would require no legal action, but Whitehill Traffic officer, PC Eric Martin pointed out that a scheme like this would need to be self-enforcing and would probably involve the realignment of the road, which would cost.

Having experienced the benefits of traffic calming measures, Greatham cllr John Graves, felt this would be a good way forward for Selborne. While sympathetic, to redirect traffic would merely add to someoneÕs elses problems, he said.

It was a sentiment echoed by a Worldham resident who was concerned that any redirected traffic would end up on the already congested and badly worn B3004 or, worse still, Blanket Street.

ÒIn Selborne you can cross the road on foot but in East Worldham we have to get in the car to cross safely,Ó he said.

Chairman of Kingsley Parish Council, Colin Neville pointed out that the B3006 through Selborne carried a 7.5 ton lorry restriction, the B3004 did not.

The real problem, he believed, was that the ÔBÕ roads were not designed to take 9,000 cars or heavy lorries.ÓWe have the same problem as Selborne but in a different way,Ó he said.

Cllr Patrick Burridge felt the advent of the National Park would, no doubt, force highways improvements. Also that the Hindhead tunnel, scheduled for completion by 2009, might encourage traffic to stay on the A3 rather than cutting through Selborne to the A31.