Canford Bottom Roundabout Improvement Scheme Starts Today

The improvement scheme to Canford Bottom Roundabout is to go ahead today, with the main construction starting in October.

However, the scheme is again embroiled in controversy after the Highways Agency failed to send letters to all residents to be affected by the works, only sending letters warning of the scheme's starting date to handful of addresses closest to the roundabout. Residents of Cutlers Place, Jessopps Road, Hayes Lane and other roads in the vicinity were all left in the dark as to when the scheme would actually start and how much noise and disruption they could expect.

As the majority of Colehill near the Canford Bottom Roundabout is sat on a hill, any noise is automatically reverberated back. Even motorbikes zooming along the A31 bypass can be heard quite clearly, so it is astonishing that the Highways Agency thinks the rest of Colehill won't be affected by the noise of the works.

As the majority of the work will be carried out during the night to reduce the disruption to traffic during the day, the noise will be that extra bit louder. Colehill at night is a very quiet area, with little or no traffic noise being heard. The sound of road works is therefore going to carry a considerable distance and cause sleep disruption for the majority of Colehill residents, not just those in the immediate vicinity of the roundabout itself.

Those families with children will be especially affected and face 34 weeks of sleep deprivation hell when the works finally start today.

It strikes me that the Highways Agency have pushed through this scheme with very little, or no consultation and with no regard for the residents and businesses who will doubtless suffer, simply because the Highways Agency have an agenda to spend the money before the government ask for it back.