AS MORE new homes are built in Petersfield – at least 800 by 2028 the government is insisting – so more traffic travels through and around the town.
But Petersfield’s roads were laid out when the town was much smaller, and there were far fewer cars.
As congestion grows, and road safety concerns surface, Hampshire County Council’s highways department says little can be done to ease the problem.
In an interview with the Post, the council’s Executive Member for Environment and Transport Rob Humby, acknowledged that as towns like Petersfield grew, traffic would become more of an issue.
Cllr Humby also concurred that the road infrastructure hadn’t been built to cope with today’s traffic levels.
And he said that the council had limited powers to object to new estates being built on the grounds that they would generate more traffic.
He added the council had to work with developers to maximise road capacity and safety; for example by ensuring that new junctions on to new estates were paid for by developers.
But as more traffic passes through Petersfield, so concern about road safety increases, for both pedestrians and motorists.
While acknowledging the concerns, Cllr Humby accepted little would be done unless a road was an accident, or speeding, blackspot.
He said making roads safer that had a track record of accidents was the priority.
And he added that road issues often weren’t as clear cut as was first thought.
He said: “Managing traffic in a community can be divisive, what one group sees as a solution, another group may not think is the answer.
“And perception plays a big part in people’s views.
“For genuine reasons people may believe cars are speeding and when we go along and check that’s not the case, or it may be thought a stretch of road is unsafe, but when highways engineers look at it there hasn’t been an accident there for years.”
Cllr Humby says he has ultimate responsibility for the non-strategic roads in Hampshire and that residents with concerns can contact him by e-mail at [email protected]