Headley ford options still under consideration

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Hampshire County Council released a statement last Friday (December 6), confirming the council was still considering a number of options for the ford, which straddles the Hampshire/Berkshire border.
These options include: restricting access to certain classes of vehicle, with additional warning signs for other drivers, according to a further statement from the county council on Tuesday (Dec 10).
The Headley farming community was infuriated after a concrete barrier was installed at the Hampshire side of the ford, in Thornford Road.
This barrier went up immediately following an October 2013 inquest into a April 2012 death at the ford, during flash floods.
The inquest heard that Middlesex judge, 52-year-old Jonathan Gammon, a car passenger, was swept away at the ford, in the swollen River Enborne.
The county council began compiling a shortlist of future options for the ford over eight months ago, in April, but this week confirmed administrative work on this remained ongoing.
Councillor Seán Woodward, Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment at Hampshire County Council, said: “No formal decision has been made to permanently close the ford. We are working on a number of alternative options for this road and hope to conclude this work shortly. Once we have some completed designs, we will discuss proposals with affected residents.”
A local resident who lives near the ford and did not want to be named, said this week that the barrier on the opposite/Berkshire side of the ford, was more easily moveable.
Farmers driving tractors, he continued, had been spotted regularly moving this (Berkshire) barrier aside, before then driving up the steep bank on the opposite side of the ford, to bypass the concrete barrier on the Hampshire side.
Chairman of Ashford Hill with Headley Parish Council, Barrie Hiscock, said this week that the farming community - whose tractors could successfully traverse the ford - did not want to see it permanently closed:
“We don’t want it shut - it’s ridiculous to have it shut,” said Mr Hiscock.
The parish council, he continued, was awaiting confirmation from the county council in order to set the date of a public meeting at the village hall.
Any such meeting would enable a consultation with villagers and the farming community on the county council’s various proposed options for the future of the ford.
Following the October 2013 closure of the ford, villager, Simon Hiscock, said at the time that Headley’s farming community were outraged and added:
“There’s total uproar in the village.”