Through traffic to be banned from Headley Ford

A concrete barrier was put in place on the Hampshire side of Thornford Road ford following the inquest in October 2012 into the death the previous April of a Middlesex judge, 52-year-old Jonathan Gammon, who was swept away in flash floods after the car in which he was a passenger got into difficulties.
A public consultation, carried out by both Hampshire County Council and West Berkshire Council, into the prohibition of through traffic crossing the ford, recently closed.
Now, Hampshire County Council says it will go ahead with the prohibition order.
Councillor Seán Woodward (Con, Fareham Sarisbury), executive member for economy, transport and environment at Hampshire County Council, said: “We publicised the ‘prohibition of driving traffic order’ between July 11 and August 1, and did not receive any objections, so we are now preparing and installing road signs to advise motorists of the restriction.
“This will all be in place in around five weeks from now.”
The order will ban traffic on a length of the C111 Thornford Road, between the junction with Ashford Hill Road and the junction with Thornford Road – a distance of 1,350 metres.
However, it would include an exemption for local access.
The Headley farming community, whose tractors regularly crossed the ford on the River Enborne, was infuriated after the concrete barrier was installed two years ago.
But the proposals, which follow consultations with local councillors, were met without objection at a meeting of Ashford Hill with Headley Parish Council earlier this year.
Parish council chairman, Barrie Hiscock, said the order was in line with councillors’ requests, although he did refer to the difficulties such an order, if approved, would present.
He said: “Local residents will be able to use the ford, but the idea is to stop through traffic.
“I look forward to seeing how they will implement that.”
Mr Woodward added that signs indicating the traffic regulation order, coupled with additional depth gauges installed in the ford, would be sufficient to deter motorists from risking their own safety by contravening the order.
He said: “Now that the order is confirmed, it would be unlawful to break it and so would be a matter for police enforcement.
“However, our objective here, as always, is to implement sensible traffic-management measures which drivers respect.
“Additionally, we will advise satellite navigation providers of the restriction, which will prevent motorists using devices with updated mapping from being routed through the ford.”