WORK on and around Butts Bridge in Alton is scheduled to start at the beginning of May.

The work is part of the South Alton Plan, a hybrid application which will see the building of 529 new homes across two sites: on land at the former Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital site on Chawton Park Road and land at Borovere Farm, east of the Selborne Road, as submitted by the Government-owned Homes and Communities Agency and the Selborne Road Landowners.

The highways element of the plan includes the construction of two new roundabouts on the A339/Selborne Road, one to serve the Borovere Farm site and a new link across the Chawton triangle to Winchester Road, with a second closer to the brick-built Victorian railway bridge which is to be demolished and replaced with a wider, steel girder structure, to encourage a speeding up of traffic flow through The Butts conservation area.

The roadworks will result in the closure of the current Winchester Road exit onto the A339 at Butts Bridge.

Vegetation has already been cleared alongside the A339/B3006 (Selborne Road) at Alton and on the Chawton triangle to make way for the roadworks and a house boarded up ready for demolition.

While the work on the bridge is expected to coincide with the building of the new sports centre on Chawton Park Road, according to Hampshire County Council details are yet to be released regarding diversion plans to enable traffic to negotiate the bridge area.

Rob Humby, the county council’s executive member for environment and transport, said: “The developer’s improvement works in and around Butts Bridge are planned to start around the beginning of May, and I understand they have already begun some vegetation clearance work between Winchester Road and Selborne Road.

“The diversion route is currently being finalised, in discussions with the local county councillor, and the developer will ensure that members of the local community are informed of the agreed route as soon as possible.”