TWO roads in Romsey will be improved due to the government reallocating HS2 funding.

Nineteen projects, including road resurfacing schemes, have been given the go-ahead using Hampshire County Council’s share of the government’s reallocated 'Network North' HS2 funding.

These include Pauncefoot Hill (A3090), which is the main road between Romsey and Ower, and Luzborough Lane by the Abbey Park industrial estate.

Hampshire Chronicle: Luzborough LaneLuzborough Lane (Image: Google Maps)

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The county council will receive an additional £4.225m in 2023/24 and £4.225m in 2024/25 to be ringfenced for the maintenance of local roads, pavements, cycleways and bridges as confirmed by the government in October.

Councillor Nick Adams-King, cabinet lead for universal services at the county council, said: “In common with most other local highway authorities across the country, we are experiencing unprecedented numbers of issues on our local roads which, combined with rising costs, means we are having to do more with less available money.

“Therefore, we welcome the additional funding from government which will enable us to accelerate the delivery of 19 larger resurfacing and repair schemes across the county, adding to work that is already planned for the coming year.

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“These improvements will make the sites more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather, helping to prevent the recurrence of potholes and other defects. In addition, we are also investing more of our own budget into road repairs. Since April 2023, we have deployed this additional resource to fix more than 142,000 road defects including potholes and other issues.” 

The funding follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap the northern leg of the high-speed line to Manchester, halting the rail link in Birmingham.

Other roads pegged to benefit from Hampshire’s HS2 funding pot include Winchester Road in Fair Oak, North Way in Andover, Winchester Road in Stroud and Fordingbridge High Street.