Winchester road residents meet to discuss traffic calming measures

People living on Petersfield Road, Highcliffe,  have been recording a large number of speeding vehicles driving up and down. While the street has a 20mph limit, cars have been seen doing speeds averaging 36mph.

While there have been no fatal crashes yet, residents at the meeting said that there had already been instances of parked cars being damaged by speeding vehicles and wing mirrors being snapped off.

Residents have approached Hampshire County Council (HCC) with proposals for potential traffic calming measures along the road. They included repainting the white 20mph roundels and the construction of raised platforms at the junction of the path to Quarry Road, where there is also a bus stop, and towards the junction of Fivefields Road.

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Residents and representatives at the meeting (Image: Chris Atkinson)Other proposals were painting yellow zigzags at the entrance of the car park of All Saints Church, which connects to All Saints Preschool, and a speed limit reminder.

However, the residents said that the county council had told them their proposals would be too resource-intensive to undertake.

On Friday, November 24, a meeting was held in The Mancy Room at All Saints Church to discuss next steps. Alongside residents, also in attendance were Steve Brine, MP for Winchester and Chandler’s Ford, and Hampshire County Councillor for Eastgate, Dominic Hiscock.

At the meeting, the proposals were discussed, with Mr Brine and Cllr Hiscock giving the attendees suggestions on how the campaign could proceed to get the proposals introduced.

Richard Long, who led the meeting, told the Chronicle: “I think the meeting was very positive and supportive. It was also realistic in terms of the likelihood of success of getting some action.

“Hampshire County Council finance, or lack of it, is a major problem, but this is a problem we have been trying to resolve for the last two-and-a-half years. Some of the elements that we are asking for to reduce speed along the road and safety in terms of white roundals being repainted and yellow lines outside the school are not huge cost.

“The traffic calming is another matter.”

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Petersfield Road (Image: Chris Atkinson)

A recent online petition, signed by more than 120 Petersfield Road residents, was also discussed.

Mr Brine said: “The residents have established there is a problem, everyone can see it, and they’ve got a big number of residents who have signed a petition saying they want change.

“Today was about bringing people together and brainstorming ideas about where we go next to try to force that change.”