RESIDENTS and businesses in Alton will have the opportunity to learn more about a £1.4m project to improve the water network at a drop-in session tonight at The Butts School.

South East Water is planning to install 3,000 metres of new water main along the A339 as it travels across the south west end of the town.

Considered necessary to improve the capacity of the network in order to accommodate an expanding community, the new pipeline will follow the A339 from its junction with the B3349 Odiham road, up Pertuis Avenue and Whitedown Lane, around The Butts, along Butts Road and under the bridge to link up with the B3006 Selborne road, from where it will cut eastward across country to join up with the B3004 Caker Lane at its junction with Windmill Hill.

Work on this “essential” scheme will begin on Monday, January 23, and the highways section of the project is expected to take around 28 weeks to complete.

To allow South East Water’s workforce to safely lay the new pipe while keeping disruption to a minimum, temporary traffic lights will be in place along Whitedown Lane, Butts Road and the Selborne Road.

A temporary road closure will also be implemented while the new main is laid around The Butts.

Chris Love, delivery manager at South East Water, said: “This important project will allow us to improve the capacity of the local water network and ensure we can continue to maintain water pressure to the Alton area as the community grows.

“We know roadworks can be frustrating to motorists and the local communities. To minimise disruption we are planning to use traffic lights along most of the highway section of our scheme to keep traffic flowing. However, to keep the public and our workforce safe we will need to implement a temporary closure of The Butts while we lay the new pipe in the road around the field.”

He added: “Our public drop-in session will give people the chance to find out more about the scheme and to ask any questions they may have. We look forward to meeting people at the session to discuss any concerns they may have.”

During the scheme, South East Water has confirmed that access to homes and businesses will be maintained at all times. The scheme forms part of the company’s £424m investment programme taking place between 2015 and 2020.

Members of the project team will be on hand to answer questions at this evening’s drop-in session, which runs from 5pm-7pm.