SELBORNE residents have expressed grave concerns about traffic through the village in a questionnaire issued by a local campaign group. Members of STAG (Selborne Traffic Action Group) delivered the survey to 237 households, covering most of the village's population, with 56 per cent of recipients (134 households) returning a completed form. Respondents were asked to grade their level of concern over several issues including the volume and speed of traffic (particularly heavy vehicles) through the village, the attitude of motorists, the policing of traffic offences such as speeding and the effect on quality of life. The results are revealing, with 103 respondents strongly agreeing that traffic through the village is a concern to their families, and that the speed of traffic is unacceptable. Furthermore, 111 respondents (83 per cent) either disagree or strongly disagree that current traffic calming measures are effective. According to the survey, 87 per cent (117 respondents) would like to see a 20mph zone through the village, but just over half (51.5 per cent) think that speed cameras are the only proven solution to speed enforcement. It even transpires that 58 per cent would either agree or strongly agree to the closure of the Ham Barn roundabout, removing the direct link to the B3006. One STAG member told The Herald last week that his property has twice been damaged when cars speeding through the village lost control. He supported enquiries by the parish council about installing speed cameras. A public meeting was due to be held at Selborne Village Hall last night (Thursday) to discuss the findings of the survey and how they could be used as leverage with the county council's Highways department in future discussions about traffic calming measures. STAG chairman and Selborne parish councillor Amanda Martin said: "The group was set up five years ago, and we wanted to make sure we were headed in the right direction. "The idea is to discuss the results of the survey with villagers and put an action plan forward, using the survey as a means to target Hampshire County Council and as evidence to support our claims." The parish council is currently in talks with Highways officers about resurfacing Fountain Road, the stretch of the A3006 running through the heart of Selborne. Although no agreement has been reached for the work, the plan is to use materials and colours which will visually restrict the width of the road to give more of a village feel. But Mrs Martin wants to increase the impetus for change after witnessing recent incidents of reckless driving, particularly around the pinch-points at both approaches to Selborne. There cars have swerved into the path of oncoming vehicles or mounted grass banks to drive around the obstacles. She said: "Drivers seem to get indignant that they have had to stop at the pinch-points, and then speed up when they get into the village. "But the biggest problem is that they don't seem to understand that this is a residential street with lots of people living next to it. If they had speeding vehicles rushing past their homes they might understand the distress it causes local people." Her sentiments were echoed by fellow STAG member Keith Pritchard, who claims to have experienced the misery of reckless driving through the village. Mr Pritchard lives in the 16th Century Pleasance Cottage, situated on the fork of Fountain Road and Honey Lane, on a blind bend of the A3006. In the last 18 months, the listed wall around his property has twice been damaged by cars which have lost control and crashed on Fountain Road, despite the road having a clearly signposted 30mph speed limit. In the first incident, in July last year, an eastbound car clipped an oncoming van on the narrow bend outside his front garden, left the road, hit the garden wall and flipped onto its roof. Then, in December 2005, another eastbound car lost control on the bend in winter conditions and drove straight into the wall, demolishing part of it. In a seperate incident on the same bend, Mr Pritchard said a former neighbour was hit by a speeding car while crossing the road at dusk. He said: "Drivers who come through here just want to get home and don't realise that people live here. There are a lot of elderly people here and the traffic has put a lot of my neighbours off walking to the village centre. "The attitude of some of these motorists is awful too, they just don't seem to care. I shouted at someone to slow down the other day and I just got abuse from him." He called for the speed limit to be better enforced, either by installing speed cameras at either end of the village or by establishing a Community Speedwatch scheme (where local volunteers are trained to monitor roads with a speed gun). At a meeting of Selborne Parish Council last month, councillor David Ashcroft discussed the possibility of mobile SPECS speed cameras (used by police) being introduced in Selborne. It was agreed to approach HCC with the idea after Mrs Martin revealed Hampshire Constabulary's Camera Partnership allowed it to place 15 per cent of its cameras in places of public concern. Honey Lane has a 30mph limit in parts but is otherwise unrestricted, meaning traffic can legally travel up to 60mph even though the road is at some points only wide enough for one lane of traffic. Two weeks ago, The Herald reported a car crash at the other end of Honey Lane in Blackmoor, which caused considerable damage to the listed churchyard wall around St Matthew's Church. The vicar of St Matthew's, Reverend William Hughes, argued at the time that the whole road should have a 30mph speed limit. His calls have been backed by Mr Pritchard, who said: "The state of the road is really bad because of the large lorries which go down there, and I've had to quickly pull into a layby when cars come round a bend in the road too fast."
