A MULTI-MILLION pound project aimed at easing traffic in a Hampshire village has moved a step forward.

A bid for £10 million aimed delivering the Botley bypass has been submitted.

The scheme is estimated to cost £24 million and aims to ease traffic congestion and improve air quality.

Botley councillor Rupert Kyrle has welcomed the news and said the authorities are now trying to secure funding which could also come from the government and developers contributions.

Residents have also praised the announcement.

Sam Trace, 39, researcher, from Botley, said: “If the bypass go ahead it will be good but it probably comes too late because they are planning to build new houses. It should have happened ages ago, it would have been more helpful but I’m in favour of the bypass.”

The scheme has been heavily demanded by a wide majority of residents, parish and borough councillors in a bid to ease traffic congestion in Botley town centre and make the town a destination rather than a way through.

The site proposed for the bypass runs from the junction of the A334 and A3051, near to Mill Hill, at the south-eastern end to Woodhouse Lane, passing to the north and east of Botley village and crossing Winchester Street.

The planning application for the scheme was submitted last August.

Now Eastleigh Borough Council has joined forces with Hampshire County Council to help secure part of the funding needed to deliver the scheme.

The application for funding is now set to be considered by the public body Homes and Communities Agency and a decision is expected to be made either later this year or at the start of 2018.

Graham Hunter, vice chairman of Botley Parish Council, said the parish council is delighted to hear that the scheme has moved another step forward. He said: “We’ve never gone this forward ever. We are confident now that the bypass will happen. It’s a road that is well overdue and severely needed.

“Now that more houses are going up traffic it’s becoming more of a problem. A lot of traffic come to the centre of Botley and the bypass will take a lot of traffic out the centre of Botley.”

If the plans are given the go-ahead and the funding secured, the work for the scheme could start as early as 2019.