**Winchester Road, Romsey update**
Last month I warned of a proposed closure of Winchester Road for a significant period in the New Year to allow Southern Water to install new drains along the section between the Plaza roundabout and the Sun Arch.
This was the reason why the proposed resurfacing of the road had been put back from September to next Spring, once the Southern Water work was completed.
Southern Water have now informed HCC Highways that they are going to have to rethink this plan as their surveys show that the road is heavily congested with other services which will severely restrict their ability to install new pipes.
Accordingly they are looking to see if there are any other options to resolve the flooding issue and their proposed works in the New Year will not go ahead. They have suggested that if there is no alternative they may now need to do sewer replacement work in two phases in 2024 and 2025.
Councillor Mark Cooper and I are therefore looking urgently with highways at options for the road. Clearly, a full and expensive resurface is not advisable if it is going to be dug up within two years. Equally though the road condition is in desperate need of substantial repair, not just the ongoing patching.
It's infuriating because the window for resurfacing has now closed due to the onset of colder and wetter weather, had Southern Water told us this in August we could have arranged some more substantial repair in September still.
Mark and I are doing all we can and I will let you know as soon as we have a solution.