I WOULD like to reassure Romsey residents that there is no need for concern about The Hundred “not being closed off to vehicles” as some people may have been led to believe from a recent news report.

On the contrary, as we advised the reporter, this is in our programme for the very near future as part of our work to support the economic recovery of Hampshire by making more space for people walking and cycling as the high street reopens.

I was also disappointed at the town centre manager’s reported comments about the county council’s lack of support for Romsey Town Centre.

In fact Romsey was one of the first five locations across Hampshire to benefit from immediate social distancing measures in support of local businesses; and comes after the county council completed over £3million of town centre improvements in recent years – investment I’m sure most of Hampshire’s market towns would be very glad to have and recognise.

Our social distancing travel plans, including The Hundred, are available on our web page which is updated daily as work progresses: www.hants.gov.uk/hantscovidtravel.

These plans are developed with Hampshire’s district and borough councils, among others; Romsey’s town centre manager has been kept fully informed of plans for Romsey and is aware our team is working as fast as possible to get measures in place.

Shoddy reporting and misguided calls to pressure the county council to do something we already have in hand have been frankly, counter-productive, taking up time which could have been better spent progressing the measures everybody wants and which we fully support.

Cllr Rob Humby

Deputy Leader of Hampshire County Council