CIVIC chiefs are to scale down the Brexit lorry park on the A31 near Winchester because the feared bottlenecks never happened.

A long section of the dual carriageway had been converted into a triage point in case the new trade arrangements with the EU led to backlogs at Portsmouth ferry port.

It meant that thousands of motorists a day had to use a 30mph contraflow between Alresford and the Percy Hobbs roundabout at Morn Hill.

But today it has been announced that Operation Transmission will be wound down from February 18.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum, a group of local authorities and emergency services, said Portsmouth is working smoothly with high levels of compliance from hauliers cutting down on delays.

Operation Transmission was launched at the New Year with a planned timescale of three months.

The forum said today that with eight of the scheduled twelve weeks of Operation Transmission passed, the decision to downscale the operation and return the A31 to normal has been taken. From February 18 lorries will no longer need to pull off the M3 or A34 and have papers checked in advance.

Hauliers' compliance stands at 90 per cent rather than the feared 30 per cent in a worst-case scenario.

More than 1,900 lorries have passed through our A31 site and 2,500 lorries through the Tipner site since the start of January.

Chief Fire Officer Neil Odin, speaking for the forum, said: “We look carefully at the facts and every indicator tells us that things are running smoothly enough to allow us to be proactive and make this important decision to downscale our operation ahead of time. Of course, there are still risks as volumes of freight are still volatile but there is a balance to strike and we have listened carefully to hauliers, local people and those who represent them.

“We planned for the reasonable worst case scenario that we were presented with and I am so proud of everyone, from those at the Port to those who worked at the triage points, the staff in our LRF agencies, and the lorry drivers who continue to work hard to get that paperwork right.

“As we leave the A31 site we feel it is important to leave things in better shape than when we arrived. Part of that is an army of volunteers who will be out picking litter on Friday 19 February. I’d like to again thank the local community for their understanding.”

Steve Brine MP said: “I’ve been watching this like a hawk since the turn of the year and continually pressing Hampshire and the Port to justify the continued presence of such large-scale disruption on the A31. The facts speak for themselves and, while they will confound some possibly expecting the worst, the truth is we haven’t seen carnage at the border and this facility has been often unused. It is therefore the right decision to remove much of the infrastructure and the contraflow ahead of time.”

Cllr Rob Humby, deputy leader at Hampshire County Council, said: “I’d like to thank the Local Resilience Forum for making this plan the success that it was. The Government asked the LRF to plan for the possibility of traffic disruption as freight travelled from other parts of the country to the Port of Portsmouth for a short period immediately after the UK left the EU. Mitigation measures were put in place, fully funded by the Government, and the plan was continually monitored to ensure it delivered what it intended, which was to ensure minimum disruption to the day to day lives of Hampshire residents.”

Signage on the M3 and other roads will no longer be visible from February 18. Instead lorries will be able to travel straight to Portsmouth International Port.

The A31 site will be partially-decommissioned in the week commencing February 22, with the barriers removed and traffic returning to using both sides of the A31.

Some of the physical infrastructure on the A31 will remain for a short period as a precaution in case compliance or volumes of traffic radically change.