Councils need to do better to protect Hedge End Centre

 

Yet another example of how the various Lib Dem and Conservative councils in southern Hampshire fail to protect the amenity of Hedge End centre.

There are huge mega building sites all round Hedge End. Traffic - including HGVs - is directed through Hedge End. 

This has a huge impact on the air quality, noise pollution and safety of Hedge End for pedestrians and cyclists. Our village centre should be for people not the convenience of big business hauliers. 

Traffic from the M27 to Whiteley Meadows, Boorley Gardens and Oaklands should be directed via Charles Watts Way and the A334. But the signage at Junction 7 "Hedge End Interchange" is not fit for purpose.

One of the problems in getting anything done about this is that planning decisions taken in Winchester, Fareham and elsewhere in Eastleigh do not take into account the impact of developments on Hedge End's infrastructure.

What's the solution? An elected mayor with strategic planning responsibilities for all of Hampshire (and the Isle of Wight). And a larger, sustainable unitary local authority to stop Lib Dems and Conservatives passing the buck backwards and forwards when things go wrong.