A TRANSPORT minister says he supports a multi-million pound Stubbington bypass to cure traffic problems after seeing traffic blackspots for himself.
Norman Baker MP travelled to Gosport yesterday for a tour round the borough, including a look at the A32, Newgate Lane and the Daedalus enterprise zone.
Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage and the borough’s council leader Cllr Mark Hook discussed the benefit of a relief road with the minister.
It would provide a western access road to Gosport via the A27 as part of the B3334 Titchfield Road corridor and would alleviate pressure on the A32 from Fareham.
Mr Baker said: ‘I’m in charge of sustainable transport so normally I look for solutions, short term, car-based and road based, but in this particular occasion there is a merit in looking at it. Frankly you’re limited in what you can do here.’ But Mr Baker made clear any scheme must be funded from cash made available to Transport for South Hampshire from 2015.
He added: ‘That’s not for me to decide, that’s for local people to advocate what they want to do and argue their case accordingly.’
Ms Dinenage said a number of schemes, including the Bus Rapid Transit scheme and a push to get people to use road alternatives ,could only go so far.
‘We can tinker with the edges, we can fiddle with the A32, we can get people on buses, get more people on the water,’ she said.
‘But actually my fundamental plea to the minister is what we really need is a major road out of Gosport. Even he admits he can see the requirement for a major road out of Gosport and it’s really good to get that senior level endorsement.’
During the whistle-stop tour Ms Dinenage also told Mr Baker she wants to see pilot schemes trialled in the town, including water taxis.
She said any scheme must be commercially viable.
She said: ‘We have got so much opportunity to use the water, it’s so quick to get across. If they’re ever got a little bit of money to spend they should think about us.’
Cllr Hook wants to see improvements so traffic can join and leave the M27 at junction 10, alleviating busy junction 11.
He said: ‘Its’ good to express our aspirations. If we could get people moving in a westerly direction, those people travelling to Southampton, it would give them another option to get off the peninsula.’
He added job creation is key to keep commuters in the town, which will in turn alleviate traffic.
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