A £2.9 million scheme will see changes made to a Hampshire road in an area that has seen ‘significant development over the last 10 years’.

Hampshire County Council will press ahead with the changes to the A3057 – which links Southampton and Romsey – in Nursling at its junctions with Redbridge Lane and Bakers Drove, and Nursling Street and  Horns Drove.

Council papers outlined how the area has changed in the last decade, with the arrival of "major employment sites and a large housing estate."

The council’s lead member for universal services, Nick Adams-King, has approved the scheme, which is expected to be finished by spring 2024.

The plan focuses on improving the traffic in the area – allowing vehicles to turn right into the side roads without holding up the A3057, and prioritising walking, cycling and bus travel.

The improvements include straightening junction alignment, adding pedestrian crossing points and traffic signals that link junctions, moving vehicle stop lines or widening side roads to improving visibility. 

Cllr. Louise Parker-Jones from the Independent group said, “I know there are trees there that would be removed.

“I wanted to be reassured that the council is going to improve biodiversity because any loss of trees would be really bad, and that is just as important as improving our transport network.”

The project officer said that they are drafting a landscape plan alongside Southampton City Council.

A total of seven trees will be removed, and she added ‘a couple of these are boundary trees that were part of the recent fire. We are going to remove those and put in some new ones. There would be a significant landscape improvement based on plans we are providing.’

A public consultation was held from November 14, 2022, to January 8, 2023, and the county council received 222 responses.

Almost three-quarters of respondents agreed that the proposals would help with the safety issue for pedestrians crossing the road, whilst around half felt that they would ease the problems of traffic congestion and access to schools.