CALLS have been made urging Highways England to take swifter action to reduce the “overflow” traffic congestion caused by emergency and planned closures of the A3 Hindhead Tunnel.

Residents’ anger over constant problems with the £300m tunnel – which is now six years old – spilled over at Surrey County Council’s Waverley local committee last Friday.

The committee promised to take up the cudgels on behalf of protestors from Haslemere to Farnham, who want the agency to improve its traffic management to avoid the knock-on problems caused on small country lanes by any closures – regardless of whether they are caused by an accident, or routine maintenances.

Highways England’s operations and maintenance team gave a presentation a to councillors at the meeting, but came under fire from members for not providing more “concrete” facts.

The agency said it was trying to minimise the need for closures due to routine works and technology issues, and recognised the need to improve how it holds up and turns around traffic during an emergency closure.

A team member said: “Highways England are working hard to minimise disruption to road users on the A3 at Hindhead, and to surrounding communities.

“We are acutely aware of the inconvenience tunnel closures cause to Waverley residents, and residents should be assured that, after safety, tunnel availability is our top priority.” Proposals to manage diversions better include minimising closures as much as possible and installing “better signs” on the approaches, plus information signs at the barriers.

Some improvement works have been done to the Thursley interchange and the agency said it was liaising with parish, town and borough councils, Surrey Police and Transport Focus, to find further solutions, such as introducing width and height restrictions on certain roads.

After talks with Surrey Police the agency hopes to get its own staff accredited to turn around vehicles for prolonged or unplanned closures rather than wait for traffic officers to arrive.

Committee chairman Victoria Young (Waverley Eastern Villages), said: “I was disappointed at the presentation, it mostly covered things we already knew, such as the closures and that it’s very inconvenient to the people.

“I think we were hoping for more concrete information, like how much it actually closes. I’m disappointed there are no statistics available and actually how things are going to move forward.”

Vice-chairman Richard Hampson, who represents Haslemere, said: “Haslemere suffers issues during the closures.

“Could you simply outline the alternate route for the closure of the tunnel, for traffic that is trapped past the turn off, for example, for the Hogs Back because you get a build-up of traffic after that. Could you describe your alternate routes.

“I’m making the assumption that is a basic planning consideration. Could you then describe the further control methods within that.

“Your comment ‘Surrey County Council to investigate’, leads us to the conclusion there is a problem created by Highways England that causes the congestion, and this has now been pushed to Surrey County Council.”

Farnham Residents’ councillor Jerry Hyman requested the committee be given the data concerning reasons for closures and closure times.

Councillor Pat Frost said: “We seem to be concentrating very much on Thursley.

“I have raised the issue of problems with the A325, as it affects Farnham, if you are coming from the south coast that is the only exit you can come off, if the tunnel is closed. If people coming up from Portsmouth know the tunnel is closed, the only exit they can make is on the A325, which goes through my ward.

“Only the other day we had a fatality on that road. I’m not saying it is because of the tunnel. But it is a very serious problem we face in Farnham. I find it unbelievable with the long list of people you are consulting, Farnham Town Council is not one of them.

“We have enough problems with congestion and air quality, without having to cope with the problems when the tunnel is closed.

“Directing all the traffic through the A325 and the villages is just not acceptable.”