Surrey last exhibited plans for an underpass taking A31 traffic below the junction with Station Hill and South Street in September 2003 to “reduce congestion, improve air quality and cut the number of road accidents in the area” – but was unsuccessful in its bid for central government funding through the 2004 Local Transport Plan (LTP) and so shelved the project.
However, after the Government announced a new pot of funding offering up to £100 million each of funding for improvements to key ‘A’ roads in January, the county council has revealed plans are progressing on a fresh bid for an A31 underpass.
This will be developed in tandem with bids for a Wrecclesham relief road and Jeremy Hunt’s part-pedestrianisation of Farnham town centre – although Surrey is yet to decide which bids, if any, to advance in light of the Government’s strict criteria for funding.
It comes after construction finally got underway on Farnham town centre’s £115 million Brightwells regeneration scheme last month, promising 239 new homes in the town centre by 2021 – on top of the 100 proposed as part of the adjacent Woolmead redevelopment.
Speaking at last Friday’s meeting of the Waverley Local Committee at Hale Village Hall, area highways manager John Hilder told councillors: “As part of the MRN consultation, local authorities can bid for funding of up to £100 million each for highways schemes, and they are not limited on the number of schemes they can bid for.
“We’ve already said the Wrecclesham relief road is on the list of things we’re looking at, and would make an incredible difference to Wrecclesham village. But what we haven’t talked about is the A31 underpass, which would drop the A31 under Hickley’s Corner and take all that through traffic out of central Farnham. That is something else we’re looking at.
“These things take a long time to bid for, and even if the bids are successful, it would probably be 2025 before things like this happen. But if they do, they would fundamentally change traffic patterns in and around the town, they really would.”
Mr Hilder added he expects Surrey’s plans “will clarify later in the year”, coming after the Local Committee withdrew its funding for a consultation on Surrey and MP Jeremy Hunt’s de-congestion scheme for Farnham town centre last autumn.
The area highway chief’s comments came in response to a question by Farnham Residents county councillor for Farnham Central, Andy MacLeod, querying where the “£50 million” needed to solve all of Farnham’s traffic and air quality issues is likely to come from.
Mr MacLeod said: “In terms of solving Farnham’s traffic problems, we’re talking about immense amounts of money. Steven [Spence, Farnham Residents county councillor for Farnham North], myself and Wyatt [Ramsdale, Tory member for Farnham South] are heavily involved with Jeremy Hunt and his ideas to solve the problems in central Farnham, and without giving any specific secrets away, when you enter discussions on how much these ideas will cost, you start talking about amounts of £5m or £10m – or even £50m to solve all of Farnham’s traffic problems.
“How we get hold of that money is really an enormous problem, and that is absolutely fundamental to the future of the Farnham as a town. The degree of traffic problems we’re having in Farnham is beginning to strangle the town, and there’s so many big developments coming along - Brightwells, the Woolmead, plus all the developments that will come from the Local Plans of Waverley and the surrounding boroughs.
“There’s going to be an enormous amount of new cars coming into Farnham and adding greatly to the traffic problems.”
Surrey’s cabinet member for highways, Colin Kemp, was also present at last Friday’s meeting, and shed further light on Surrey’s bids for MRN funding, commenting that only the “strongest cases” as judged against the Government’s criteria would proceed.
He said: “If there are 20 schemes in Surrey that meet the criteria, we then have to be honest and say we will never be able to write 20 bids. We haven’t got the time to put it all together. So we ask which are the strongest cases we can put forward?
“That will be a decision that will be made by officers, in conjunction with me and also the deputy leader [John Furey] and the leader [David Hodge], so there is a general oversight about what bids we put forwards, and then we task officers with starting to put those bids together.
“I know Farnham is up there and the Wrecclesham bypass is something we would really love to do, but first we have to match it against the criteria and say actually is it worth putting all that time and effort into that, does it meet the criteria?”
Mr Ramsdale was not at the meeting, but is urging as many people as possible to respond to the MRN consultation, which closes on March 18 (see letters page).
“Improvement of the A325 must surely be a top priority,” he said. “Housing development and economic development will be significantly constrained for as long as we don’t have a dual carriageway to go south. Busy traffic on the A325 is delayed passing through the centre of Wrecclesham village and often comes to a complete stop.
“A new road bypassing Wrecclesham will provide an important link on the route between the M3 and A3/A3M. The road would open up the area west of Wrecclesham for new development bringing benefits for both Hampshire and Surrey and should be supported by both county councils. Taking the heavy traffic out of Wrecclesham village will also save lives.”