MIDHURST UPDATE from Tom Richardson, County Councillor – as of Thursday 23rd.
“I have just received the following update from highways:
We have designed the one way plug and diversion route for the junction of Eastshaw Lane and Brambling Lane. The restriction will prevent vehicles entering Eastshaw Lane and then travelling against the dominant west bound flow in Hollist Lane. The restriction will be picked up by google maps / Sat Navs and should discourage the majority of motorists from heading into Woolbeding as Sat Navs can currently instruct that this is a good route. The plug will be implemented by close of play on Friday 24.3.23 and we will monitor the success of this by site visits and feedback from the public and may make further amendments if appropriate. We are also reviewing wider planned works in the area to ensure they don’t cause further disruption.
A number of agencies met on site with the various representatives acting for the owner of Angel Inn today, including a Structural Engineer. We are now waiting for the report to come back from the Structural Engineer so that a decision on the most appropriate course of action can be taken.
We have received confirmation that some shops had been instructed by the landowner’s structural engineer who advised two adjacent businesses to vacate (which we believe to be for 10 days) because of the risk of collapse of a flank wall of the Angel Inn. The 2 businesses affected are the Henry Adams Estate Agents and Serenity Beauty.
We do note that some of the more minor parts of the local road network are not standing up to the increase in traffic as well as we would like. We are increasing our targeted inspections in this area and we are also regularly reviewing works in the area to reduce disruption as much as possible. We will try and be as sympathetic as possible with any essential traffic management to make the roads safe, however the current conditions are very challenging and the roads must be safe for the public. We will look at larger repairs / schemes once the main road is open again.
The Midhurst Recovery Group has its third meeting tomorrow afternoon.”