Tag: Hampshire

Increase use of A3 because of the Hindhead tunnel has made noise worse for East Hampshire residents


And not only for East Hampshire residents

Don’t forget the rest of us along the A3 / A3(M) corridor

This article highlights the impact to residents all the way down to Bedhampton.

Like wind and water, motorists will always take the path of least resistance. Surely it would have been obvious to the planners and the developers what would happen. If they had carried out surveys across the area they would have determined that many vehicles were using the A3 as a quicker route to offset the extra mileage. Once the reason for that diversion was removed then it was a dead cert that the traffic would take the shortest distance once more.

Once again it is the local residents that pay the price for the short sightedness of the planning fraternity.

Increase use of A3 because of the Hindhead tunnel has made noise worse for East Hampshire residents – Transport – Portsmouth News.

Dunsbury Hill Farm – New Development Proposal Affects on Waterlooville


Today I received a letter from HBC (Havant Borough Council) pertaining to the proposed development of the Dunsbury Hill Farm site, adjacent to the A3(M).

The description of the development is as follows:

Site Address: Dunsbury Hill Farm, Park Lane, Cowplain, Waterlooville

Proposed Development: Hybrid planning application comprising a part outline application relating to employment uses and a hotel with conference  facilities and a part detailed application for a new link road with bus gate to Woolston Road; together with landscaping, infrastructure and associated works.

I am sure that they don’t intend to hide what this development really means but on first reading I was quite happy to go along with it. After all a new hotel and conference centre would not increase the daily traffic levels and road traffic noise. The additional employment opportunities that this would bring is also to welcomed.

However, without reading the actual proposal one is not likely to see what this really is. In their own words …

… proposed development of agricultural land at Dunsbury Hill Farm, Havant into a business and technology park with hotel, conference facilities and associated infrastructure

The  development proposal includes the creation of a new roundabout and potential dualling of a section of the Hulbert Road. In addition there are plans to create a new parking area double the area of the current lay-bys this development will replace. All of this is an indication of the increased traffic that the developers are anticipating.
I have lived in this area since 1985. The survey that I had on my house at the time carries a final comment

shame about the noise from the motorway

Over the years  I have become aware of the increasing noise levels and the changing nature of the noise. Waterlooville, specifically Junction 3 (J3), the junction of the B2150 with the A3(M),  has become something of a hub for the emergency services. As a result anyone living near to this junction will have noticed the increased siren activity. If recent news articles are to be believed the newly opened Hindhead Tunnel is also contributing to increased noise levels along the A3(M) due to heavy goods traffic choosing the A3(M) in preference to the M3 now that the Hindhead traffic jams have been eliminated.
The application pack includes  tables indicating noise levels. The constant theme running through the comments section is

A3 constant and dominant.

What is wrong with these tables is that they are taking noise level reading from a point on the centre line of the A3(M) into the development area and on into Calshot Road & Park Lane areas of Leigh Park. No measurements seem to have been taken from the Waterlooville side of the A3(M).

Yet this is the area that will probably be most affected by the additional traffic generated by the new development.

The location of this new development makes total sense when you consider the easy access to the motorway. Allowing traffic to clear the area very quickly.  However, the very fact that all that traffic will be coming and going via J3 of the A3(M) is going to have a negative effect on the area.

Presumably the planners are thinking that this new development will provide jobs for the soon to be residents of the Berewood (ex Newlands) development on the opposite side of Waterlooville. Did they also consider the additional traffic that will inexorably be sucked across the town ? Such traffic will also be using the J3 roundabout.

I also have other questions, ones that I have asked in other of my posts …

  1. Are there any potential tenants who have committed to take up residence of these new units when they are built ?
  2. Has a major hotel chain registered any interest in running this proposed hotel and conference centre ?
  3. Was the land adjacent to Junction 2, Horndean, considered as the site for this development ? If it was, why was it rejected since there is less potential for affecting local residents and the motorway access is just as good ?I am assuming that the answer is that the land comes under East Hampshire District Council rather than Portsmouth City Council.

I am the first to bemoan the fact that the planners don’t seem to have done much to provide employment for the residents of Waterlooville. So I am loath to be totally negative about this proposed development. However, I don’t believe that the planners have got the true measure of the impact that this development will have.

As usual the only people who will truly gain from this are the developers and, for a short while, the folks employed to carry out the construction.

Heart attack patients receive best treatment in south at Queen Alexandra Hospital


No wonder the authorities keep trying to skim the QA skills and move them to Southampton.

QUEEN Alexandra Hospital’s heart attack unit is the best in the south, the latest figures show.

Patients have a better chance of surviving than any other hospital in the area and victims from as far away as West Sussex and the Isle of Wight are being taken straight to the Cosham super hospital because of the advances services available.

Of course this means that the work levels have risen.

Figures revealed in the South Central Cardiovascular Report show since QA was given permission to use the helipad 24 hours a day in September the number of heart attack victims admitted has gone up.

There were 288 admissions between April 2011 and December 2011, compared to 269 in Oxford, 229 in Southampton and 165 in Reading.

Despite the increased workload the QA shows that patients have a better chance of survival than if they are treated in any other similar hospital in the region.

The death rate for patients treated for severe heart attacks is 5.8 per cent at QA compared to 9.1 per cent at Southampton, 5.7 per cent at Oxford and 6.4 per cent in Reading.

Heart attack patients receive best treatment in south at Queen Alexandra Hospital – Local Health – Portsmouth News.

Waterlooville Wally Of The Week Award


Stupid or just cheeky. Either way it really isn’t a good idea to steal a bike belonging to the police.

Leon Spencer-Jones, from Laburnum Road, Waterlooville, pleaded guilty to committing the offence in Waterlooville on March 8.

So I award Spencer-Jones “Waterlooville Wally Of The Week”
Waterlooville man tried to steal pushbike – Local – Portsmouth News.

Warning that congestion woes could get worse – Local Council Won’t Listen To Residents


Community leaders spoke of their concerns about congestion and parking as plans for 79 homes at Brockhampton went on show.

Developer Orchard Homes wants to build 64 houses and 15 flats on green space to the south of Ranelagh Road, an area once used for allotments.

The meeting at Havant’s council chamber heard the land had been identified as an area that could accommodate 160 homes – and this could be phase one.

Havant Borough Council have already shown that they don’t care about local residents views by their continuing development approvals. They just play lip service to residents comments at review meetings. In the last couple of years every possible piece of greenfield that has been earmarked for development has gone through. The traffic problems brought about by this rampant development just get worse. This particular development will bring an extra 150 to 400 vehicles passing in and out of the area and will of course require somewhere to park.

Paul Basham, a transport consultant for the developers, told the meeting: ‘We are aware there is an existing problem there.

‘What we can do about this is a difficult situation.

‘We are working with Havant Borough Council to see what we can do, if anything.’

People’s comments will now be taken forward as developers work up a formal planning application.

Don’t hold your breath folks. The planners won’t have to live with their decisions. Nor will Paul Basham who says

‘We are working with Havant Borough Council to see what we can do, if anything.’

The implication there is that they will proceed regardless of if they can provide a solution thereby exacerbating the problem.
Warning that congestion woes could get worse – Local – The News.