WORK has begun on a £1.2m scheme to "improve" a notorious bottleneck between Petersfield and Liphook.

The fields around West Liss came alive with the sound of chainsaws this week as clearance work began at the Ham Barn roundabout.

The busy junction on the A3 will boast extra lanes and a wider approach from the south when the project is completed in February 2014.

Changes are needed because the number of vehicles using the junction has increased since the Hindhead Tunnel opened in 2011.

That has left the oddly-shaped roundabout as the only obstacle to free flowing traffic between London and Portsmouth.

For full story, see this week's Liphook Herald.