A TOWN council want "urgent action" to fix issues across Romsey.

Romsey Town councillors want Hampshire County Council to provide action on pavements, roads and bridges - all of which have caused issues in the past.

On Tuesday, March 17, motions were approved by Romsey Town Council - two were on the state of Romsey’s pavements and potholes and one on finding a solution to prevent accidents with Romsey’s railway bridges.

As previously reported, a number have lorries crashed and been stuck under a railway bridge in Greatbridge Road, Romsey and caused the whole town to come to a standstill.

Now, town councillors will press Hampshire County Council to work with them as a matter of urgency to bring about long term solutions to these serious matters.

Councillors Claire Wise, John Critchley and John Ray proposed the motions.

Cllr Wise said: "We cannot understand why there has been a recent spate of accidents and want to sort out a solution as soon as possible."

The motion also comes as a number of residents have stories about friends and family tripping on the pavement in Romsey town centre, with trips happening almost every week.

One person who has been affected by the state of the pavements is Caroline Shobbrook, she said her now 85-year-old mother fell and broke her wrist on the Church Street and Market Place junction.

Regarding Latimer Street, Romsey paving Cllr John Ray said: "I know of up to twenty residents who have fallen over here and injured themselves.

"We have to find an urgent solution."

Cllr John Critchley said: "The residents of Romsey are plainly fed up.

"There needs to be a serious look at everything to do with the construction and maintenance of pavements, highways and bridges.

"We just cannot carry on risking injury, particularly to pedestrians and cyclists."

He said the Government says it will provide money so now Hampshire County Council needs to step up and do the work.

Councillor Rob Humby, deputy leader of Hampshire County Council, said: “The position is compounded by years of underfunding for highways maintenance by successive governments, which has led to a significant decline in the condition of the local road network despite us trying to plug the funding gap from local resources with an extra £10 million each year for our Operation Resilience programme.

“I believe we do a good job with the funding we have, the money only goes so far, and the recent wet weather and flooding has added significantly to the damage and deterioration of the roads. 

“The county council has recently committed an extra £5 million from local resources for highways maintenance in the next financial year which we will be using to blitz potholes and defects with find and fix gangs

“However, this is a national problem.”