New Forest bridge repair schemes gain funding worth £13.5m

TWO major road repair schemes in the New Forest have been listed by the county council for funding worth £13.5m with work expected to start in the next year.

Work to replace the old Holmsley Bridge on the A35 near Burley, where a precautionary 40mph limit has been in place since late 2016, has been allocated the full £5.5m estimated cost as a “priority scheme”.

At Totton the Redbridge Causeway, a key link over the River Test between the New Forest and Southampton, will get £8m to continue fixing its crumbling concrete and joints to avoid emergency weight restrictions.

The sum is well short of the £19m total bill expected for the Causeway project after the government rejected Hampshire County Council’s bid for financial support.

However, the part-funding by HCC means the element of the scheme focusing on the Redbridge viaduct section of the crossing can go ahead. Previous operations there this year brought a series of weekend closures.

Both sets of New Forest engineering works are expected to begin during the 2018/19 financial year.

The cash was among £160m of transport spending approved by Cllr Rob Humby, the member for environment and transport in HCC’s ruling Conservative cabinet.

Cllr Humby said: “This year alone, 15 major schemes across Hampshire are in either the design or delivery stage, compared to two or three just a few years ago.

“This investment in Hampshire’s roads and transport is vital to our economic prospects and our quality of life, with improvements focused on relieving congestion, improving air quality and safety, and easing journey times as the population grows.”

The council said projects included 448 planned highways maintenance schemes, 66 safety engineering projects, and flood mitigation measures.

Cllr Humby added: “In these times of financial pressures on council services, it is even more important that we are able to lever in additional funding to improve transport links, so that people can go about their day to day lives and Hampshire shows it is open for business.”