Council bids for cash to improve Stubbington village centre and boost cycle way between Fareham and Gosport

Hampshire County Council is asking for £3.45m from government so it can redesign roads and high streets to support social distancing, assist economic recovery and support people who want to continue walking and cycling more.

This follows a successful bid earlier in the year for nearly £1m that was used to bring in temporary measures to allocate more space to walking and cycling.

If successful, the new cash will be used to make some of these permanent, as well as bringing in improvement to cycle routes such as the one along the Eclipse Bus Rapid Transit corridor between Fareham and Gosport.

It will also see crossing improvements to encourage walking and cycling along the A27 between Fareham and Portchester.

Councillor Rob Humby, deputy leader of Hampshire County Council, said: ‘Hampshire County Council submitted a successful bid earlier in the year for £863,000 for temporary pop-up measures to help people socially distance more easily.

‘We have listened to feedback from residents and worked in partnership with town councils, parishes, and borough and district council colleagues to develop plans to change our towns and high streets and implement new schemes which encourage active travel such as walking and cycling.

‘The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we travel.

‘Evidence indicates we are travelling more locally and cycling and walking more. We are making significantly fewer work journeys. This is a critical time to make changes to our high streets and roads to support a prosperous, healthy and green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.’

SEE ALSO: New owners put Stubbington pub back in business

The projects that have been prioritised for improvements to the high streets are: Stubbington, Aldershot, Romsey, Brockenhurst, Petersfield, Eastleigh and Winchester.

Other proposals could see move-able planters brought in, parking spaces replaced with temporary seating, bike racks installed and measures put in place for schools to support more active travel.

The outcome of the bid is expected to be announced in early autumn.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues.

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news and information online.

Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.