RESIDENTS said plans to upgrade a congested bottleneck in Hampshire come “too late”.

Dozens turned out to Roy Underdown Pavillion in Hamble on December 7 to have their say on plans to upgrade Hamble Lane.

Hampshire County Council is asking the public what changes they would like to see put in place on the busy road and the northern section of the Windhover Roundabout and the Pound Road junction.

As part of this, they want to explore alternative travel choices for residents to ease peak travel times which puts Hamble Lane at ‘maximum capacity’ during commuter times.

But residents say who attended the public consultation on Thursday said the plans come too late as “too many” housing developments are to be built along Hamble Lane and as a consequence traffic will increase.

Sandy Llewellin, 67, retired, from Hamble, said: “The developers are achieving planning permission along Hamble Lane but what are they giving back to Hamble?”

Hundreds of homes are set to be built on land in the area, including 105 homes to the west of Hamble Lane in Bursledon and 180 new homes and a country park to be created on the former site of the Bursledon Market and Car Boot Sale near Hamble Lane.

Eastleigh council leader Keith House, council leader at Eastleigh Borough Council- which is the authority responsible for granting permission for new housing development- said: “Eastleigh Borough Council does not want to see more development down Hamble Lane.” Taylor Wimpey’s scheme was granted on appeal against the wish of the Borough partly because there was no objection from Hampshire on traffic grounds.

He added: “I welcome that Hampshire has belatedly accepted there is a problem and look forward to seeing their proposals to improve the situation.”

County transport boss, cllr Rob Humby has previously told the Daily Echo that the authority wants to engage with local people before work starts on developing proposals.He said that by gaining a full understanding of the key issues, highways bosses will be able to put forward options that would make a positive impact and would have the full support of the local community.

According to the council, it is too early to give a timeframe for the works, which addresses all aspects of the roads, and behavioural patterns of motorists.

The consultation will run from Monday 27 November until January 7.

The material can be viewed at www.hants.gov.uk/transportschemes from the 27th.