RESIDENTS have lost a fight to stop traffic being re-routed during the early stages of the Manydown development along what they say is a dangerous road.

Developer Urban&Civic has been granted permission for two new construction accesses on Roman Road and Roman Way by members of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s development control committee.

Residents had previously understood that traffic would enter the site via a trunk road on A339, Kingsclere Road when work begins on the 3,500-home development.

It means that there will be 200 traffic movements a day by construction vehicles – this could either be HGVs or work vans – using Roman Road.

Hundreds of people had signed a petition calling on the council to stop traffic being routed down the busy down, but committee members said the developer’s application was “technically sound” and wouldn’t stand up to further scrutiny if it was turned down and went to appeal.

READ MORE: Residents raise fears over 're-routed' construction traffic

Speaking at the committee meeting on Wednesday, April 12, one resident said about the Roman Road access: “On your site visit you would have seen how dangerous it will be for HGV construction traffic and other vehicles turning left from the A339 onto the Roman Road. Traffic from Wellington Terrace only has a few seconds to turn left or cross Roman Road as the sight line is very short to see vehicles turning from the A339.

"There have already been accidents and fatalities. Please stop and visualise how dangerous this junction will become because of the increased construction traffic, especially HGV and other construction vehicles.”

In support of the residents, councillor for Brighton Hill, Andrea Bowes said: “It is not fair to blight residents’ lives for a good seven years with this sort of scheme when with a bit of careful thinking I'm sure we could come up with something that is a lot better and doesn't disadvantage residents in the way it does.”

She also said that the entrance on Roman Way is “unsafe”, while Cllr Alex Lee urged members to consider alternative entrances.

Rebecca Smith, communications, communities & partnerships for Urban&Civic, said the developer has been working with residents since planning permission was granted in 2021 to minimise disruption, but she said: “It would be wrong of me to suggest that we can build a community the size of Manydown without causing some disruption but we do believe our experience and approach allows us to minimise disruption to neighbouring communities.”

She told the committee: “The nature of this long and narrow site offers both challenges and opportunities. One of the key benefits of our strategy is the speed of which it will allow us to deliver new homes as we can build in more than one location on the site simultaneously. The psychical constraints of Manydown create this need for multiple access junctions to the site to enable the separation between completed homes and areas of construction.”

SEE ALSO: Hundreds of people sign petition to block construction traffic using busy road

Committee members called for the speed limit along the road to be reduced while construction work is taking place – it is currently 40mph.

Cllr Nicholas Robinson said: “We should do everything possible to get a temporary 30mph speed limit on this. I find it absolutely unbelievable that Highways or the police are going to object to an absolutely obvious road safety measure.”

It was decided that contact should be made with Highways to determine whether the speed limit could be reduced.

While some members had concerns about the applications, Cllr Paul Harvey said of the Roman Road access: “It is technically sound. Yes, there are issues to do with many roads that relate to road safety that we would all see differently. 

“The junctions have been designed with splays, distances, with the appropriate extra lanes.

"Opening up two parcels of land in the context of this design will result in speeding up of housing delivery by its very nature."