RESIDENTS in Ringwood are set to face a month of traffic disruption from today, but the town council was only made aware of the work last week.

Hampshire County Council (HCC) engineers are carrying out “essential maintenance” on Southampton Road for four weeks. During this time the road will be closed from 7am to 7pm.

Signs warning of limited access have been placed in the area, but Ringwood Town Council only discovered the work was going ahead by asking the county council after a resident raised concerns.

Deputy town clerk Jo Hurd told the Daily Echo she requested full details from the authority responsible for the highways.

Town, district and county councillor Michael Thierry said communication between authorities was an area that needed to be addressed, however after seeing a similar scheme take place in Christchurch Road without issues, he said he hoped the latest project would follow suit.

“There will be some inconvenience from this work, but I am hopeful they will go through with as little impact as possible,” Cllr Thierry said.

The project is part of HCC’s Operation Resilience, which is a maintenance strategy aimed at making roads more resilient to the effects of extreme weather and heavy traffic.

The work is split into three phases:

  • Damaged kerbs will be replaced and preparation works to remove the traffic calming ramps from August 9 to August 17.

  • Removal of traffic calming ramps and carriageway resurfacing between August 20 and August 24.

  • Reconstruction of traffic calming ramps from August 28 to September 7.

Cllr Rob Humby, HCC’s executive member for environment and transport, said the road would be closed, but resident access maintained when safe to do so, with operatives at either end of the closure to advise of the best way to access properties.

“We will endeavour to complete these works as quickly as we can and to minimise the inconvenience to residents,” he said.

“However, to maintain the safety of the workforce and general public, the road will need to be closed to traffic during these works due to the size of equipment being used, but will be open during evenings and weekends.

“Once complete, the carriageway and surrounding area will be better able to withstand the effects of bad weather and heavy traffic.”