To: Mr Peter Eade
Assistant Chief Engineer
Hampshire County Council
Hampshire Highways Basingstoke

Your reference: 1021745

Dated: 3rd December 2006

Dear Mr Eade,

Highway Issues in Baughurst

Thank you for your letter dated 3rd November 2006. As you can see from the letter heading we have formed a group with the aim of gathering the views and ideas from as wide a spectrum as possible of the local community.

We are pleased to read that for the future your team will look more carefully at verge repairs in Baughurst Parish. We are however still concerned that over the last couple of weeks we have seen that many verges are still being replaced with tarmacadam. For example, the junction at Shaw Lane and Rimes Lane has suffered many times from this treatment.

We understand that timber post and verge markers may well set in motion future repair maintenance visits, but this is a much safer option than that of widening the road and the road junctions, as widening will encourage faster speeds and use by larger vehicles.

Putting aside the issues of safety and the effects on our rural character that creeping road widening practices have, the placement of tarmacadam in the ruts that are formed in the verge outside of the road surface will in fact set in train larger maintenance bills.

By placing a thin layer of road material on top of an insubstantial substrate, the extreme edge of the properly supported road section is left unprotected and vulnerable to vehicle weight damage. The lack of distinct verges encourages larger and heavier vehicles to travel over temporary repairs causing rapid break-up of the unprotected edge of the original road surface.

We feel that verge markers and proper protection of the road edge by reinstating the verge will be a lower cost option than that of constantly replacing the road edge and it sub-structure in the long term.

We understand your comments regarding increased traffic volumes on all roads, but our primary aim is to reduce the speed of traffic. However, we would like to explore with HCC Highways what measures might serve to persuade through traffic (especially goods vehicles) to use the A340, A339 or B3051 routes.

Residents along the Baughurst Road have already provided valuable ideas and information to the group. We have also received input from many residents (walkers, runners, cyclist and horse riders) that make use of the route Baughurst Road, Violet Lane or Ham Lane joining Wolverton Road and back onto Baughurst Road. This route is regularly used by those living along the route and many others living in the vicinity.

We believe it could be useful to have a constructive look at the following possible options:

1. Measures to reduce traffic speed along Baughurst Road.
2. Identify a number of strategic locations were engineering design works with the use of countryside kerbs or other sympathetic measures could create traffic pinch points and/or chicanes.
3. Through Hillside, try to prevent on-coming traffic from passing through the very narrow sections of road by creating ‘give-way’ to on-coming traffic or more formal passing places.
4. Extend the existing 40mph restriction from the Wellington Arms, south through to the boundary of Baughurst village.
5. Installation of recommended Max. Speed signs on Hillside and Wellington Arms where the road is single track and there are blind bends.
6. Introduce width and if possible vehicle weight restrictions (especially through the narrow section through Hillside and Pound Green.
7. Vehicle Activated Signs (VAS) indicating actual speed.

The group's objectives will be to obtain consensus from all interested parties in the parish on traffic issues and investigate solutions that could help to make our countryside roads safer whilst protecting the rural character of the village.

Our focus is solely on Traffic Matters and we confirm that we have agreed with the Parish Council and the Baughurst Society to consult and work closely with them.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Baughurst: Traffic Matters Group