WINCHESTER residents have been left concerned due to plans to build a temporary Puffin crossing on Romsey Road.

The proposed crossing would be located near Clifton Terrace, with nearby residents having concerns about its impact on the surrounding roads.

The crossing is currently the subject of a public consultation which started on January 4 and is running until January 18.

One concerned resident is Richard Russell who lives on West End Road.

He said that, while he would welcome a crossing, he is concerned that Hampshire County Council has not properly researched the impact the new crossing would cause.

Richard explained: “We had a meeting nearly two years ago, and at that time they confirmed that they hadn’t done that because, clearly, there were a lot of people on Clifton Road, Clifton Hill, that were concerned about what impact these works would have and the council couldn’t answer that.”

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Richard told the Hampshire Chronicle that the council had promised to send out impact surveys to the residents of the streets which would be impacted by the crossing, but that they never materialised.

He continued: “I’d say it was well supported, the majority of people said they wanted a crossing but this is impacting negatively elsewhere.

“Potentially there will be a fatality elsewhere or a serious accident elsewhere but what are (the council) doing about it?"

Hampshire County Councillor for Westgate Martin Tod said: “Lots of people have wanted this crossing for a very long time – but there were understandable local concerns with the previous design.

“It took ages after the previous consultation to get measures put in to prevent extra rat-running.

“Because it’s a trial, I’ve also checked that there’s a plan to measure the impact on neighbouring roads and report back.

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“Unfortunately, the latest consultation went out without referring to any of this – so understandably people were concerned.

“Ultimately, the question in front of us is whether we want a safe crossing on Romsey Road or not. This is a crossing that a lot of people have wanted for a very long time.”

Cllr Tod continued: “My personal preference is to closely watch the results of any trial – and then if there are any roads that are negatively affected by a new crossing – and that’s by no means certain – make sure that we get the measures we need to make them safer too.

“I know from previous experience in closing the Square to through traffic that people’s worst fears may not come to pass, but that it’s also going to be really important that that the council listens closely to any real problems that emerge from the trial and acts quickly to work with local people to address them.”

A spokesperson for Hampshire County Council said: “To improve safety for all road users at this busy location, the County Council is planning to install a traffic signal-controlled crossing on Romsey Road at the junction with Clifton Terrace.

"Ahead of installing the new crossing, it will be necessary to make some changes to the road junction to enable traffic movements to be managed better and to improve visibility.

"The plans take account of survey feedback gathered in early 2021."

Feedback from the survey and the technical plan can be found on the scheme web page: hants.gov.uk/transport/transportschemes/cliftonterracecrossing.