As already advised the Group had been in contact with Peter Eade at HCC Highways Maintenance Department to arrange a local meeting on Friday 15th June at the Old School House, Baughurst Road. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss maintenance issues along Baughurst Road (see 1-4 below). We believe that good maintenance of the village roadside verges will send a message to drivers that we care about the village that we have chosen to live in. We believe this message will encourage drivers to pass through the village more carefully and at slower speeds, thus improving the environment and making the use of our local roads safer for all that use them.

Leonard Russell, Graham Round and Philip Fletcher met with Peter Eade and we all walked the length of Baughurst Road from Shaw Lane to Pound Green (Apologies received from Steve Bushell for his absence).

The purpose of the meeting was to review the following list.

1. Discuss and resolve a method for future treatment/repairs to verge erosion and possible temporary protection of such repairs.
2. Identification of excessive erosion (walk section from just north of Shaw Lane to Pound Green)
3. Discuss proposal for improvement to Shaw Lane, Violet Lane and Church Lane junctions with Baughurst Road.
4. Discuss proposal for advisory Max speed signs at the Wellington Arms junction/bend and the narrow section of Baughurst Road through Hillside Close.

In general Peter is very supportive of our suggestions and has given a commitment to put in place resources to address the above points as far as he can.

Peter explained that item 4 is outside of his Team’s responsibility; they can replace/repair existing signs, but must seek agreement from the Roads Safety/Management Team for new signs.

Peter supports the initiative of the Group to carry out low level verge tidying/maintenance. We visited the area at Hillside Farm where the Highways Maintenance Team had recently carried out some verge reinstatement work and in general we all felt that the works were having the desired effect, some additional verge markers were required and will be installed ASAP.

The Maintenance Team will in the near future be organising a JCB to carryout substantial verge reinstatement works, it is hoped that the JCB could be made available for 2-3 days. Following this Baughurst:Traffic Matters could organise local people to carryout tidying of the verges reinstated. This would involve raking and or levelling off with top soil.

The installation of verge markers will hopefully allow repairs to establish. Peter may be able to provide some heaps of strategically placed topsoil; Leonard Russell may also be able to help with soil. The verge markers near Oak View and Oak Deane to be installed correctly by Highways.

Peter acknowledged that farmers and land owners will often need to carryout ditch clearance (hopefully on a Saturday and Sunday) but he stressed that for safety reasons the public in general would not be encouraged to use plant and machinery along the roads.

Many of the white line markings installed around 2001 have all but worn away, Peter’s Team will be reinstating these and Peter has agreed to talk with those responsible to ensure that realignment of the stop lines at the three above mentioned junctions (3) takes place. It is hoped that realignment will create pinch points and allow vehicles to emerge out of the junctions more safely.

At Shaw lane junction, a verge side white line will be introduced opposite the realigned stop lines. Peter is also to consider what measure could be taken to encourage drivers to remain on the main carriageway when travelling south on Baugurst Road into Shaw Lane. Currently many motorists make use of the telephone lay-by and as such this encourages higher speeds at the junction. It was noted that there are often minor RTA’s at this junction and it is difficult for pedestrians to negotiate.

Whilst not wishing to litter the area with signs it was agreed that some form of low level temporary signs explaining the desire of the community to reinstate the verges was an excellent idea.

At the conclusion of the meeting we thanked Peter for his time and effort in listening to us and for explaining the role and responsibilities of the HCC Highways Maintenance Team, we are very grateful for his time and support. We agreed to stay in contact via email with Peter regarding the planned works.

Peter asked that we ensure we communicate our plans to the Parish Council and others within the community (also the website) as it was very important that the planned works are supported by all, as this in the long run will have the best eventual results.

Protecting Verges

Issues relating to members of the public making use of various types of obstruction to protect the verge immediately outside their homes was discussed . Highways are sympathetic regarding the desire to protect verges, however they point out that it is technically illegal for you to place an item onto the highway. The highway may often include the section of verge outside a dwelling. In general it was felt that short posts with reflectors fixed to them are probably safer and more desirable than loose chunks of concrete, stone or logs, especially as such items can easily be dislodged and roll onto the metalled surface of the highway. A householder could then be faced with the result that the items placed on the verge are 'responsible' for injury and or damage.

It was noted that for many years short wooden post have been used in a few locations along Baughurst Road and these certainly do have the desired effect of reducing the erosion of the verge caused by vehicle overrun, they also appear to be more sympathetic to our rural location. The perception of a narrower road width created by such posts can also encourage slower vehicle speeds.