Basingstoke ObserverCOUNTY Councillor Stephen Reid has revealed that the Camrose Link Road option for the Brighton Hill roundabout will not be built, even though it could be now that the planning judgement for the Camrose site is allowing the site to be developed.
The link road was intended to reduce the load on the Brighton Hill roundabout, improve its traffic-light operations and increase its ability to cope with the traffic created by thousands of new homes being built in the area. It was an addition to the £20 million improvements now being carried out.
Stephen Reid reports: “I welcome the £20 million investment now under way. It will significantly improve traffic flows. The Camrose Link Road would have been the icing on the cake, and that is not now going to happen.”
Much of the money for the roundabout improvements has come from the government through the M3 Local Enterprise Partnership and the rest from Hampshire County Council. When the decision was taken to start the scheme without the link road, some of the LEP money had to be returned.. It is now lost to Basingstoke.
Stephen confirmed the notification he received from the County officers said: “Now that planning consent has been granted on appeal for the (Camrose) outline planning applications, the County Council would theoretically be in a position to negotiate dedication of the land and deliver the Link Road. However, there are a number of issues preventing its delivery in the short term: There is no funding available, as this had to be returned to the EM3 LEP for use elsewhere; and there are no obvious sources of sufficient Government or S106 funding available in the short term. Taking account of the funding situation the County Council is no longer able to progress the Camrose Link Road.”
Stephen continued: “This is what I feared and warned against. In November 2020, I wrote quite a long email on this subject but here are the key paragraphs …
My fear is that, if we downgrade our aspirations for the Brighton Hill roundabout and implement a compromise solution without the link road, we will never get the link road. I believe we need to maximise the capacity of the Brighton Hill roundabout.
The emerging Borough Council vision speaks of tens of thousands of homes in the South West. These should be taken into account in traffic projections, We need to maximise the capacity of the Brighton Hill roundabout. A short-term compromise will create long-term problems, in my opinion.”
Stephen Reid subsequently had a conversation with Cllr Rob Humby, whose portfolio this was, who confirmed his intention to proceed on the Brighton Hill roundabout, without the link road.
Stephen is now asking for more information to understand by how much the capacity of the roundabout will be below the original projections and what the impact will be on the ability of the A30 corridor to handle the traffic generated by developments in the area. “I welcome the £20 million improvements that are being made. However, the decision not to build the link road may well increase the need for alternative solutions like a western by-pass. This will become part of my campaign to ensure this part of the Borough continues to get the investment it needs.”
The controversy surrounding the future of the former football ground caused delays and the Brighton Hill Roundabout improvements were started without the link road.
Response from Councillor Cllr Edward Heron, Hampshire County Council’s Executive Lead Member for Transport and Environment Strategy: “Firstly, I’d like to make it clear that while the County Council is not able to deliver a link road at the current time, we are still considering a Link Road in the longer term, subject to securing sufficient funding. Unfortunately, planning permission was refused by the borough council for the housing development which would have enabled us to implement a Brighton Hill roundabout improvement scheme which incorporated this link road. Because we were then unable to deliver the wider scheme within the deadline for spending the approved Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership (EM3 LEP) funding, we had to redesign the Brighton Hill scheme without the Camrose Link Road in order to retain this funding. Following further negotiations with the EM3 LEP, we agreed to implement a revised improvement scheme at Brighton Hill Roundabout for easing congestion, with some additional measures to improve access for cyclists and pedestrians but without the Link Road and with fewer traffic capacity benefits and as a consequence, we were required to return some of the funding secured to deliver the wider scheme.”
