Petersfield Road Humps: Object to Pulens Lane by 9 October

Hampshire County Council has published the legal notice for four road humps on Pulens Lane and Heath Road East in Petersfield. Anyone who wants to object has until Friday 9 October.

The notice went up on the county’s public notice register on 18 September. It is the statutory step that has to happen before the humps can be built, and it is the last formal chance to say anything about them.

The humps are one part of a £1.4m safety scheme that Hampshire approved on 30 June and expects to start on site this autumn.

What is actually proposed

The notice describes four raised tables, not speed cushions or round-top humps. Each one is 75mm high, has 1,500mm slopes at a gradient of 1 in 20, and runs the full width of the carriageway.

Three of them have a 6,000mm flat top:

• 65 metres south-west of Heath Road East’s junction with Heath Road
• 23.5 metres north-east of Pulens Lane’s junction with Montague Gardens
• 47.5 metres south-east of Pulens Lane’s junction with Barnfield Road

The fourth sits at the crossroads itself, where Pulens Lane meets Heath Road and Durford Road, and extends into the junction. Its flat top is printed in the notice as “2,4500mm”, which is not a number. Everything else in the notice is given to a tenth of a metre, so the figure looks like a slip rather than a design.

Why the county says it is doing it

The statement of reasons attached to the notice is unusually blunt for a highways document. It describes Pulens Lane and Heath Road East as a single lane carriageway with one footway, along the east side, and then says this:

The current perception of this stretch of Heath Road East and Pulens Lane is that of an intimidating road dominated by traffic which is not inviting to vulnerable road users.

The four humps go either side of the Durford Road crossroads, between points roughly 75 metres south-west and 200 metres north-east of it, to bring speeds down.

That matches what the county has said since the scheme began. Its scheme page says the road was picked out by the Petersfield Strategy Group, which is Hampshire County Council, East Hampshire District Council, the South Downs National Park Authority and Petersfield Town Council sitting together. The reasons it gives are the number of collisions at the Durford Road junction and speeds regularly above the 30mph limit, “noted by the community and confirmed by speed data collection”. The target is under 30mph, and ideally 20mph.

Petersfield Town Council put the same case to residents in January 2025.

What the county turned down

The consultation on this stretch closed on 7 January 2024. Hampshire has since published what it did with the responses, and two of the most popular requests were refused.

Traffic lights at the crossroads are out. The county says the junction is too constrained, that signals would “urbanise the area, which is contrary to South Downs National Park Policies”, and that they would need land taken from the Heath and from properties around the junction. It also says the cost “would be prohibitive and exceed the available budget for the scheme”.

Formal crossings are out for the same reasons. There will be no zebra or parallel crossing at the junction. Instead the design puts crossing points with tactile paving on the raised table, on the argument that the table and the pinch points either side of it will slow traffic enough to make crossing safer.

Two things did change after the feedback:

• Two extra traffic calming pinch points were added, one on the Heath Road approach to the crossroads and one on the Durford Road approach.
• Dropped kerbs and tactile paving will be added to side road crossings “where possible”.

On the request for stop signs, the county says the existing Stop sign on Durford Road will remain if it is still appropriate, and that any new ones need authorisation from the Department for Transport and the Secretary of State.

When the work happens

The county says the work is phased, starting in autumn 2026 and finishing in spring 2027, with a pause over Christmas. Before the main construction it will clear the existing gullies and drainage network, partly to deal with the water that ponds at the Durford Road and Pulens Lane junction.

The humps are not the whole job. The approved scheme also covers:

• drainage improvements around the new raised areas, aimed at the surface water that collects at the Pulens Lane, Durford Road and Heath Road East junction
• upgrades to street lighting
• moving underground services so the footpath between Lower Mead and Pulens Lane is easier to use
• widening the footpath beside Tilmore Brook at the northern end of Pulens Lane so walkers and cyclists can share it

After that, the county wants to replace the Pulens Lane bridge over Tilmore Brook, narrowing the road slightly there to slow traffic, and then resurface. It has not fixed a date for the bridge. Its target for the lot is the end of summer 2027.

Councillor Steve Forster, the county’s cabinet member for highways and passenger transport, said in June that safety at the junction “has been a real concern for local residents and road users for some time, and we’re grateful for the community’s patience while we’ve carefully worked through the design and review process”.

One thing worth checking

The two published descriptions of how far the scheme reaches do not match.

Hampshire’s scheme page describes traffic calming “along the length of Pulens Lane from the junction with Durnsford Road/Heath Road East to the junction with Barnfield Road”. Petersfield Town Council’s January 2025 post says the measures extend “along Pulens Lane and Heath Road East to the junction with Rival Moor Road”. The county page also writes “Durnsford Road” where every other document, including this month’s notice, says Durford Road.

The four humps in the notice stop at Barnfield Road. If you live between there and Rival Moor Road, the notice is the document that counts.

What it means for you

If you want a say, this is the last formal opportunity, and it closes on Friday 9 October 2026.

• Objections must be in writing and must state the grounds they are made on. A message saying only that you are against it does not meet the test.
• Quote the reference A2178/JH.
• Email public.notices@hants.gov.uk, or write to the Traffic Orders Team, Safer Roads and Parking, Universal Services, 2nd Floor, Elizabeth II Court West, The Castle, Winchester SO23 8UD.
• Be aware that in the traffic calming process your name and address may be made public along with what you say. The county spells that out in the notice.
• Support counts too. The notice invites “objections and other representations”, so a letter backing the scheme goes into the same file.

You can read the notice, the plan and the statement of reasons at Petersfield Library, 27 The Square, GU32 3HH, or ask for copies by email. The named officer is Jordan Harper, a senior technical officer in the county’s Safer Roads and Parking team.

If you drive, walk or cycle that way, the practical point is that four raised tables and four pinch points are coming to a road that currently has none, from this autumn, with a break over Christmas. Our Petersfield roadworks and travel page tracks the closures as the orders are published, and the planning news page covers the town centre schemes that sit alongside this one.

Sources

• Hampshire County Council public notice: road humps in Heath Road East / Pulens Lane, Petersfield, published 18 September 2026, reference A2178/JH, and its attached notice and statement of reasons, read on 23 September 2026, for the four raised tables, their dimensions and locations, the quoted statement of reasons, the objection deadline, the objection process and the inspection arrangements.
• Hampshire County Council: Pulens Lane Improvements, Petersfield, last updated July 2026, read on 23 September 2026, for the scheme objectives, the Petersfield Strategy Group, the speed data, the engagement feedback responses on traffic lights, crossings, pinch points and stop signs, the advance gully clearance and the survey closing date of 7 January 2024.
• Hampshire County Council gives green light to safety improvement scheme at Pulens Lane and Durford Lane, news release of 30 June 2026, for the £1.4m estimate, the funding, the drainage, lighting, underground services and Tilmore Brook footpath works, the phasing and completion dates, the bridge replacement and the quote from Councillor Steve Forster.
• Petersfield Town Council: Pulens Lane Update, published 27 January 2025, for the council’s own account of the scheme’s origin and the reference to Rival Moor Road.