Letters: Shutting route out of New Milton for weeks is a mistake and will devastate businesses

THE closure of the B3058 is absolutely ridiculous!

This is a main arterial road out of New Milton to the north. It should be classified as an A-road, as it’s the only one taking the traffic out of New Milton northwards, and is always busy.

When Fernhill Lane was closed last month, the partial resurfacing has not solved the road surface problems as the edges are very badly broken down, and with all the bad weather and frosts to come, the edges will only crumble more and create a big hazard for two-wheelers.

It’s a very serious danger, especially when rain fills the holes in, and is a bad accident waiting to happen.

With the Bashley works, vehicles will probably ignore the signs and have great difficulty in turning back once past the village shop and garage. It is a big mistake to close the road.

One another note, when Lymington Borough was in power, we had ditches and verges kept clear. My uncle was in a ‘road gang’ and they took much pride in their patch. We had ditches clear and the water drained from the roads. (It then made its way to Ballard Lake.) What do we pay our rates for?

Finally, why can the work not be done at night when there will be less disruption for the road users?

Jean Lees
Bashley

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RE the Bashley road closure, New Milton Town Council voted that traffic lights should be deployed to allow cars limited use while the gas pipe was being replaced.

However, SGN indicated that traffic lights could not always be used during the two months the works would take.

I have been assured that all properties affected will always have a gas supply during the intended works.

It would be in all businesses’ interest to discuss matters with SGN prior to the works starting.

The main gas pipe has to be replaced as a matter of priority.

Cllr John Adams
Bashley Ward

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SGN wishes to completely close the B3058 through Bashley for up to three months in January which will devastate the businesses including the Bashley Stores, two garden centres and the garage.

This is instead of operating a traffic-light-controlled system to enable access to continue.

Therefore I suggest that if this closure goes ahead, the retailers should inform SGN of their takings over the same period this year and that SGN should be instructed to pay those amounts to each affected business in recompense as otherwise some of those businesses may well close down.

This should be a condition within the contract for SGN to do the work.

As an added thought, why on earth will it take three months anyway?

David Eley (a regular user of these businesses), Barton