Hampshire Roads

Introduction

All non-motorway roads in Hampshire are the responsibility of Hampshire County Council.  If you have an issue relating to the road network go to the County Council website for more information.

Motorways are planned and maintained by a non-elected body or QUANGO known as Highways England.  It has proven very difficult for local elected members to enter into dialogue with this agency or even receive briefings from them.

With Government seeming to accept that too few homes have built over the last three decades, many local authorities are finding that the local plans are not being accepted due to pessimistic housing numbers.  Eastleigh Borough Council finds itself in just such a position following the abolition of the South East Plan on the change of Government in 2010.  Under this plan housing and transport infrastructure strategy was being developed for future growth of the area.  Some saw the management of it as not particularly democratic, but removing it left a more local resource with arguably less funding and too small a view of the issues involved.  The body now responsible for the housing and transport infrastructure strategy is the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH), which is managed by each council leader of the southern local authorities between Portsmouth and Southampton, along with their Chief Executive Officers.  The body is more democratic, but only responsible for a small area, so housing and transport infrastructure pressures can only be dealt with on a very local basis.

The Bigger Picture

PUSH has determined that over the next 20 years, 107,000 houses will have to be built between Portsmouth and Southampton.  Eastleigh’s share represents 17,000 houses.  All very well, but this does not take into account the rest of Hampshire, a mostly rural county with 80% of it green fields.  Meaning that instead of planning areas where sports fields, recreation parks, industrial parks, etc., can be located before the houses are built, they have to be shoe-horned into the urban areas where there is very little room for manoeuvre.  Houses are being built around the infrastructure laid down decades ago.

The Botley Bypass

Traffic became overbearing in Botley in the 80s, with an increasing number of HGVs heading for the motorway through roads not designed for such volume of traffic, making Botley High Street one of Eastleigh’s hot spots for poor air quality for decades.  British planning laws provide infrastructure funding in the form of developer contributions, which are only handed over once the houses have been built.  To fund the Botley Bypass would either need a large number of houses to be constructed or particular funding stream from Government.  Whichever of the two has happened, we are now being informed that the long-awaited bypass should be constructed within the next two years.  As with all such large projects, there will be the opportunity for public consultation.  The following dates have been set aside;-

• Tuesday 21 June 2016.  2.00pm – 7.00pm – Diamond Jubilee Hall, The Botley Centre
• Wednesday 22 June 2016.  2.00pm – 7.00pm – Diamond Jubilee Hall, The Botley Centre
• Saturday 25 June 2016.  1.00pm – 4.00pm – The Main Hall, The Botley Centre

Click on the link to examine the report written for Eastleigh Borough Council’s Local Plan 2011-2029