'Barking mad' Hampshire junction to finally be shifted to nearby roundabout after years of motorist frustration

Blackbushes Road connects the town of Fleet to Blackbushe Airport and the village of Hartley Wintney.

At the northern end of the road, there is a junction that connects it to the A30 - but as soon as you leave the junction, you reach a roundabout.

This means that anyone wishing to drive southbound down Blackbushes Road has to go eastbound to the next roundabout, just to double-back on themselves - adding an extra half a mile to their journeys.

Now, Hampshire County Council has confirmed plans to finally move the junction to the roundabout.

Conservative member for Church Crookham and Ewshot, Cllr Stephen Parker, said: 'To residents it is crazy that the county council only ever built three quarters of a roundabout.

'We're making commuters drive an extra mile every day and it's completely unnecessary. Everyone in the area knows this roundabout is barking mad, so I hope they will be pleased by this.

'At the very least, this is a return to common sense - this has always been a bit of a nuisance for people.'

The original roundabout was constructed in 2015, but Blackbushes Road could not be reworked at the time as the council did not own the land.

A total of 19 trees will be felled for the junction to be shifted 35m to the west, in a project that will take 12 months to complete.

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At the same time, street lighting, road signs, drainage and boundary fencing will also have to be moved across.

However, Google Maps' pictures of the road in 2009 poses a question about whether the roundabout was ever needed in the first place.

Previously, a second turning allowed motorists to access Blackbushes Road from the A327, as the roundabout will soon make possible.

But Cllr Parker insisted the decisions that have been made by the county council were the right ones.

'We did what we did and we will do what we have planned to do,' he said.

'Moving the junction to the roundabout is clearly the right thing to do, so let's not dwell on what it looked like in the past.'

The plans were voted through unanimously by the regulatory committee.