DIVERTING thousands of vehicles a day through Highcliffe would be a recipe for disaster, says Christchurch councillor David Jones.

Cllr Jones represents Highcliffe West ward and wants borough council officers to look for alternatives to sending vehicles through the busy town centre when Hampshire County Council carries out major repairs to the A35.

The county council needs to carry out major repairs to three miles of the A35 between the Lyndhurst Road junction north of Hinton and Wilverley north east of Holmsley.

The £850,000 project will begin in September and could take around 16 weeks to complete.

Much of the work will be carried out under traffic light control and single carriageway working.

But at times the road will be completely closed to ensure the safety of the workforce.

During those periods traffic will be diverted from the Somerford roundabout along the A337 through Highcliffe to New Milton, Lymington and Brockenhurst.

About 10,000 vehicles use the A35 every weekday.

Cllr Jones said: "We're not happy about the diversion through Highcliffe because there's far too much traffic going through Highcliffe anyway.

"We have concerns and we think there are other routes that could be used instead of sending traffic through Highcliffe.

"I would have thought it more sensible to put traffic on the A338 to the A31."

He is asking council officers to see if there is any way of alleviating the problem.

One alternative would be to direct traffic along the A35 to the Cat and Fiddle junction and then through Walkford to Chewton and the A337, he said.

Another would be to send light vehicles onto the B3055 at Hinton St Michael. The route would take in Bashley, Sway and Brockenhurst.

This would not find favour with Brockenhurst parish councillors who are concerned about safety issues outside the village primary school.

"I think it's a very simplistic solution to push everything through Highcliffe town centre. It's a recipe for disaster," said Cllr Jones.

First publication: August 18