Bulging £100,000 Highclere footpath 'waste of money'
Danger to safety of large vehicles passing side-by-side
A HIGHCLERE villager has warned that a new, ‘bulging’ £100,000 footpath in the village poses a danger to the safety of large vehicles passing on the A343 between Newbury and Andover.
He has also criticised Hampshire County Council for spending money on the footpath when there was little to spare for essential road repairs.
Tim Green said: “The roads in North Hampshire are without any doubt in an appalling state and the cumulative cost of damage and enforced maintenance to road users’ vehicles must run into many hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“The council apparently has no budget for essential repairs, although they seem to have rustled up enough money to install a very smart and very generously-proportioned footpath to a long stretch of the A343 in the centre of Highclere village.
“I fail to see why the footpath was deemed more necessary than road repairs and also quite why it needed to be so very wide.”
He pointed out that one section of the footpath bulged out into the road, almost adjacent to a central island.
He said: “I was heading towards Newbury in my Land Rover Defender, a reasonably large vehicle, and met a large curtain-sided HGV coming up the hill into the village at that point. Both of us were a little surprised and we both touched our brakes as we slid past each other.
“I would imagine two HGVs meeting there could pose a problem unless they were travelling extremely slowly.”
Meanwhile, he said potholes were left unrepaired and added: “I am quite serous when I say that they will soon be joining up to a point where only total re-laying of the roads will be required.”
Seán Woodward, the county council’s executive member for economy, transport and environment, responded by saying the footpath cost around £100,000, including design and drainage costs, funded by developer contributions, which could not be used for highway maintenance.
He said the council spends £60m a year on roads and added: “The footpath provides a safe link for pedestrians between Star Lane and Mount Road, and before it was put in, there was no safe route to the village hall.”
“Carriageway widths have not been narrowed from existing widths along this section,” said Mr Woodward.
“We have reinstated the edge of carriageway marking, bringing this closer to the kerbline along the section north of the traffic island which makes the carriageway appear wider than before the footway was installed.”
n Do you have a story about potholes or bad road surfaces in the North Hampshire, or Newbury area? Send an email to jane.meredith@newburynews.co. uk
