C45 – Thanks to Hampshire Highways
A BIG THANK YOU to the team at Hampshire Highways.
A huge cloudburst on Newtown Common left the C45 looking like this on the 31st July at 1 pm. It left a very dangerous pile of mud and stones stretching over 75m down the road just before the sharp blind bends at Jonathan Hill, which caused many motorists to skid although not many to slow down?
This emergency situation was reported to Hampshire Highways at 1.30 pm and by 5.30 pm the road had been cleared, by John Rawlings of Hampshire Highways and assisted by local residents John and Iain (The Old Post Office). Our thanks to you all.
Speeding on the B4640 – July 25
Newtown Parish Council (NPC) fought a prolonged battle in 2023/2024 with both Hampshire County Council (HCC) and Hampshire Police to prove that vehicle speeds along the B4640 (known locally as ‘The Newtown straight’) were excessive, particularly, motorcycle racing AND to prove the need for enforcement action to be taken to address this antisocial, illegal and dangerous problem.
There is a 50 mph speed limit along this road which is disregarded daily by a large number of drivers in a variety of vehicles, yet there are numerous entrances along this road to a busy pub, a busy day school, several tracks leading on to Newtown Common and many entrances leading directly from the road into houses. It is a very narrow single carriageway road.
Animals are regularly killed along this road (both wild and domestic) and residents have long complained about the excessive speeding and excessive noise of racing motorbikes. Yet in 2023 HCC refused to allow NPC to use their SID device to capture data on vehicle speeds, despite a petition supporting this which gathered well over 2000 signatures.
NPC eventually obtained Freedom of Information data which was provided by David Wilson and his traffic analysis team at HCC. They monitor and assess traffic flows along all roads in Hampshire and from radar beam technology in place along the B4640 they very helpfully produced detailed and alarming data about vehicle and motorcycle speeds along this road for the month of April 2024.
NPC also obtained, via a Freedom of Information Request, data about how many traffic enforcement patrols were deployed along this road and how many speeding tickets were issued in April 2024 – the answer was ZERO!
In response to this irrefutable evidence. NPC, Burghclere Parish Council (BPC) and HCC called on Hampshire Police to take enforcement action. This has not happened and the response from Hampshire Police and the Hampshire Police Commissioner has been apathetic and pathetic in equal measure. Starting off with the Assistant Commissioner, the can was kicked all the way down the line to Rural Sergeant Martin Evans in Basingstoke. Despite his initial encouraging words, he was last heard from in September 2024 with zero response to numerous emails, phone calls and even two hand delivered letters to Basingstoke Police Station!
In 2024, NPC also obtained well publicised support from MP Kit Malthouse and several prominent local councillors. All to no avail. Nothing has happened in the past 15 months to address or deter speeding along this road nor to curtail the frequent anti-social and dangerous impact of motorcycle time trials/racing,
NPC has now obtained another set of data for April 2025 using the same Freedom of Information Request mechanisms and the results, comparing 2025 to 2024, are shown below in graphical form. A detailed spreadsheet is available on request. This first graph compares average traffic speeds exceeding the 50mph speed limit, which were captured at hourly intervals for every day in April. It clearly shows a daily complete disregard for the speed limit with no change between 2025 and 2024. If anything there is an overall increase when comparing 2025 with 2024.The vertical scale is speed in mph.
A comparison of the minimum and maximum daily speeds captured in hourly time bands show a similar story. The profiles of traffic speeds exceeding the 50 mph every day shows no change between 2024 and 2025 with the daily occurrence of speeds of nearly twice the speed limit!
Analysis of speeding motorcycles along this road shows a similar depressing story resulting from the zero Hampshire Police action.
The excessive speed profile between the two years is very similar, with top speeds recorded at twice the speed limit. However, the number of speeding motorcycles has actually increased in April 2025.traveling northbound (NB’d) 160 motorcycles were recorded exceeding 60 mph, compared with 134 in 2024. Analysis of speeding motorcycles travelling southbound (SB’d) shows the same picture, with 170 motorcycles exceeding 60 mph compared with 106 in 2024.
Hampshire Police confirm zero traffic speeding fines issued for the month of April 2025. They state that mobile patrols took place but cannot supply any information on their frequency or number. Residents say they cannot recall seeing any enforcement activity along this road and the data evidence (shown above) appears to support this. If indeed any such patrols did take place, they were clearly ineffective.
It is difficult to know what NPC should do next. When the alarming 2024 data was presented, Tom Thacker (HCC highways) MP Kit Malthouse, several local councillors and even Robert France (ACC Hampshire police) all agreed that the evidence of speeding was extremely concerning and that action should be taken.
The 2025 data shows that the problem of daily illegal and dangerous speeding traffic and motorcycle racing along the B4640 has not gone away. It is still very concerning and indeed if anything, has become worse.
The excuse for zero action from Hampshire Police throughout 2024 was that this was ‘ a safe road’ – a euphemism for no deaths. The position of the Hampshire Police and the Hampshire Police Commissioner appears to be that we have to wait for people to die before any action will be taken to stop the reckless and dangerous driving which is taking place.
Newtown Parish Council sincerely hopes that this will not involve any local residents going innocently about their daily lives, nor any school children or parents going in and out of Horris Hill every day nor those customers using the Swan pub, nor indeed any other road user driving within the speed limit.
Newtown Parish Council will do all it can to deliver traffic enforcement action for the ‘Newtown Straight’ and make the B4640 a safer road for all road users. We call upon those with a duty of responsibility to our community to step up and do the same.
C45 update – Hampshire Highways – 28th October 24
We have received the following brief update from Hampshire Highways regarding the ongoing works on the C45.
“[The] engineer has assessed the reinstatement work which has been carried out here and is satisfied it meets our required standards. We are in the process of linking the pipe to the highway drainage system further down the hill so [that] the water will have somewhere to go once we have finished the works (currently hopeful for completion by the end of next week).
“We are in the process of ordering works to clear the gully mentioned as part of our investigation into the chamber within the private property so that will get done at some point as per my last email.”
C45 / Well Street – 20th October 24
Well done and thank you to Hampshire Highways for their work in fixing the spring water issue ahead of the coming winter frosts.
The plan is to capture the spring water and route it via large pipework to connect with the main road drainage system lower down the road.
The crew on site have worked effectively, but their task was more complex than envisaged and the original timescales have been extended. The work in progress (shown right) is not yet reflected in the road closure signs or on the HH website, but it would appear that the C45 is likely to remain closed for some time next week.
Concerned residents and road users should contact Hampshire Highways directly for further information and updates on when the road will reopen.
C45 / Well Street – 8th September 24
Spring water on the C45 – Ball back in Hampshire Highways court?
A big thank you to our HCC Councilor Tom Thacker for the following update recently received from Hampshire Highways East.
‘Following our investigation work earlier in the year Southern Water attended the site as they believed there was a water leak causing the issue. They have told us they tested the water and it was mains water coming up through the road surface. We expected them to carry out a repair but have recently been told they have changed their minds and don’t plan to do any repair works here.
We are in the process of ordering further investigatory works to see if we can prove it to be a mains water leak. If we can we will pass the issue over to Southern Water to deal with. If we are unable to prove it we will look to install a further porous pipe slightly down hill from the existing one and look to link both pipes to the highway drainage system further down the hill.
I’m unable to give a date for these works at this time but we are doing our best to get them carried out before the colder winter months start and ice becomes a problem again’.
This was very much expected, given the history of the spring water on the road which has been tested many times over many years.
It is now important for residents of both Newtown and Burghclere who use this road daily to keep the pressure on Hampshire Highways to get this remedial work completed before the carriageway turns once again into a skating rink come the frosty weather.
A reminder therefore for residents to keep logging their concerns and dissatisfaction with the state of this road by reporting issues to Hampshire.
B4640 / Newtown Straight – 8th September 24
No action be taken by Hampshire Police?
We have now received a reply from the Police Commissioner for Hampshire confirming they agree that no enforcement action is to be taken against motorists speeding on the B4640.
A reminder…..
For 8 months Hampshire Highways blocked attempts by NPC to obtain traffic speed data on the B4640 despite a petition signed by over 2000 people.
Traffic speed data was only obtained from Hampshire County Council in response to a Freedom of information request. This provided hourly traffic speed data for 29 days in April 2024. This data showed that every single hour of every single day in April vehicles were recorded breaking the speed limit of 50 mph and a profile of high speed motorbike racing was also shown.
A total of 686 vehicles were recorded as the highest speeds per hour logged. NB. There could well have been more vehicles also breaking the speed limit but which were not recorded.
The breakdown of the speeding traffic, shows quite shocking speeds reached along this residential road.
Hampshire Police responded to this data saying that they took a tough stance against speeding in this area – yet another Freedom of information request made by NPC shows there were ZERO speeding tickets issued along the B4640 during the month of April 2024, when this continuous breaking of the speed limit was taking place.
In the face of such evidence, NPC believe that the lack of concern shown by Hampshire Police and the Police Commissioner towards this excessive illegal and antisocial behaviour is both deeply disappointing and totally unacceptable.
We call on residents to contact Hampshire Police directly to express their concerns directly.
Please email; Inspector Alastair Lloyd, Thames Valley Police at: alastair.lloyd@thamesvalley.police.uk
and Donna Jones, Hampshire Police Commissioner at: opcc@hampshire.police.uk
C45 / Well Street – 15th August 24
Users of this road will be only too aware that the state of the carriageway immediately south of Jonathan Hill remains a significant cause for concern.
Water still pours from the centre of the road and several exploratory works recently carried out by Hampshire Highways have created further indentations and potholes in the road surface. Repairs to the BT box pothole in late May have now been negated by the traffic and water flow along the road and once again has created potholes which present a potential source of damage to vehicles.
Exploratory trenches were dug by Hampshire Highways in June (leading to surface damage referenced above) but in a new twist to this story, Southern Water have recently been investigating whether the water on the road is actually spring water (and therefore the responsibility of HCC to address) or whether there is a mains leak somewhere in the immediate area which is contributing to the road water issue. They have recently set up overnight ‘listening devices’ in the area to confirm if there was a mains water main leak and where it was.
We will provide residents with further updates when we have received an update from Hampshire Highways/Southern Water.
The state of the C45 has been exacerbated by heavy traffic using the road to service the several development sites which have sprung up in Newtown over the past year but the overwhelming concern is to deliver a solution to the water problem BEFORE the road once again turns to sheet ice with the overnight frosts in a few months time.
If a solution is not delivered, it will place all road users (which includes daily school buses travelling to and from the schools at Burghclere) at serious risk of an accident.
We will monitor the situation and press Tom Thacker, our HCC Councillor for a further update.
Meanwhile, if you are unhappy about the state of this road, it is important that you keep up the pressure on Hampshire Highways by continuing to report your concerns here.
B4640 / Newtown Straight – 15th August 24
Efforts to elicit a positive response from Hampshire Police have continued over the past 3 months drawing attention to the data supplied by Hampshire County Council back in April 2024.
This data proved conclusively that for every single hour of every single day throughout April a vehicle was recorded travelling well above the 50 mph speed limit for this road – at speeds ranging from a minimum of 57 mph to a shockingly high maximum of 118 mph.
In addition, the same month’s data showed over 100 motorbikes travelling North along this road at speeds ranging from 61 mph to 111 mph and over 100 travelling South at speeds between 61 mph and 95 mph.
This evidence vindicates the long-standing complaints from local residents about traffic speeds and high speed motorbike racing along this road. However, despite the steadfast support of Kit Malthouse our MP and all our local councillors from HCC and Basingstoke and Deane, Hampshire Police have resisted all calls for any enforcement action to tackle this issue.
They initially suggested that the high speeds recorded were due to emergency vehicles travelling along this road? They also suggested that residents should be reassured that the average speed recorded was close to the 50 mph limit so there was nothing to be concerned about? We pointed out that the average of 51 mph and 49 mph was 50 mph as was 80 mph and 20 mph – BUT the two situations presented completely different impacts and potential dangers to the local community. Remarkably, they further suggested that data showing 3 motorcycles caught travelling at 90 mph, 87 mph and 80 mph at the same time on April 27th were not racing but ‘travelling in convoy’?
The latest response from Hampshire Police has sidestepped questioning the data and moved on to say that they regard the B4640 as a ‘safe‘ road and priorities dictate they will not take any enforcement action to deter speeding traffic and/or motorbikes. They intend only ‘to monitor the situation’.
The response from Hampshire Police, as summarised above was provided by Inspector Alastair Lloyd of Thames Valley Police (email. alastair.lloyd@thamesvalley.police.uk). NPC have also presented the case for enforcement action on the B4640 to our Hampshire Police Commissioner Donna Jones (email:opcc@hampshire.police.uk) -but to date we have received no reply.
Burghclere Parish Council are fully supportive of the efforts to address the concerns of residents and if you are also supportive, then we urge you to email both Hampshire Police and the Hampshire Police Commissioner to make your feelings known.
C45 / Well Street – 24th May 24
The spring water flowing down the C45 (Hart’s lane below Jonathan Hill) remains a significant issue of local concern – as voiced by many residents at the recent Parish Assembly.
Hampshire Highways closed the C45 road on the 8th and 9th of May to dig exploratory ditches as a precursor to designing a permanent solution to take the spring water off the road.
The latest update from Hampshire Highways (via HCC Cllr. Tom Thacker) was in response to a suggestion that they could potentially coordinate their work with the planned road closure for Southern Water works ( scheduled for 28th – 31st May).
‘Thank you for your email. We do try and work with utility companies when they have works requiring road closures wherever possible. Unfortunately, in this instance we have completed our investigations into the spring issue and are currently working on additional permanent works and we won’t be in a position to deliver these works during this closure. Once we have designed mitigation works and I have a planned date for them I’ll update you and the local parish further.’
On the 23rd May, Hampshire Highways again arrived to repair the pothole near the BT box on the C45 on the 24th May 2024- but as may be seen, with the spring water still flowing down the carriageway, this repair is unlikely to last very long?
Newtown Parish Council will do all it can to keep up the pressure on HCC and
Hampshire Highways to deliver a permanent solution to this problem. We encourage all local residents and road users to do the same. The link to report issues such as these can be found on our Report It page.
(25th May 24)
B4640 / Newtown Straight – 14th May 24
After many months of petitioning and lobbying Hampshire County Council, information on traffic speeds on the B4640 was finally obtained. The information provided was an hour by hour breakdown of traffic speeds for the month of April 2024. HCC also provided clear evidence of high speed motorcycle traffic along this road, vindicating the long-standing complaints from local residents.
The detailed information provided by HCC is summarised here. It has been forwarded to Hampshire Constabulary by our local MP Kit Malthouse – who has been an excellent champion of our cause throughout. Clearly, there is a need for rigorous enforcement action – we now await the response from the Police and Hampshire Highways?
The data shown was supplied by Hampshire County Council using their traffic flow measurement equipment, sited along the B4640 towards the junction with the Tothill Roundabout. This equipment does not capture optical images and cannot be used for prosecution purposes, but it does measure the speed of different types of vehicles as they pass through radar like beams. This enables Hampshire C.C. to differentiate between vehicles such as motorcycles, cars, cars with trailers and trucks. The data is normally used to assess average traffic speed and traffic flow patterns. However, in response to a Freedom of Information Request, Hampshire Highways have kindly provided a months’ worth of data showing average AND maximum traffic speeds along this road and in addition they have extracted information specifically on motorcycle speeds travelling northbound and southbound along the road.
Newtown PC. and Burghclere PC. are extremely grateful for the help provided by David Wilson and his Implementation team at Hampshire C.C.
Summary
Table 1 shows that average traffic speeds recorded in hourly bands is broadly in line with the 50-mph speed limit set for this road, though with noticeably higher average speeds (rising to 8% above the speed limit) during night time hours and early evenings. (highlighted in yellow).
Table 2 shows that there are a significant number of vehicles which travel along this road at speeds far exceeding the 50mph speed limit (again highlighted in yellow) Speeds at or above twice the 50-mph limit were recorded in April 2024 on many occasions, particularly at weekends.
Tables 3 and 4 show the extracted top speed data for motorcycles and clearly evidence what residents have complained about for many months – that the B4640 is being used for motorcycle races and/or time trials and at speeds which are a danger to the lives of the motorcyclists themselves and a danger to other road users and residents.
This data provides clear evidence that there is an urgent need for enforcement action to be taken to stop this anti-social and dangerous behaviour. This enforcement action should be implemented as quickly and effectively as possible.
B4640 / Newtown Straight – 12th Jan 24
Many of you will have seen the petition to put a speed indication device on the B4640 (the ‘Newtown Straight’) to both remind vehicles of the speed limit but importantly to capture data to assess whether further speed control measures were needed. It gained over 700 signatures and on the back of this we asked Hampshire County Council to open a dialogue with us, Newtown Parish Council, about what measures could be taken to reduce the speed along this dangerous stretch of road. Hampshire County Council have further rejected this request. We are asking local residents to support us and send an email to Cllr Nick Adams-King (Nick.Adams-King@hants.gov.uk) and Cllr Tom Thacker (tom.thacker@hants.gov.uk) to support the outcome we are seeking. The most recent correspondence can be seen below:
Dear Mr. Adams-King and Mr. Thacker,
I am writing in my capacity as vice-chair of Newtown Parish Council and am again seeking your help in allowing us to deploy our SID (Speed Indication Device) machine on the B4640 between the Swan roundabout and the A34 junction at Tothill. The road, known as the ‘Newtown Straight’ runs through both Newtown and Burghclere parishes, hence I have copied this note to both Tony Webb and Richard Carrow.
I appreciate from your previous responses that it is the policy ‘norm’ of Hampshire Highways to disallow deployment of such devices on roads with speed limits above 40 mph. Many other English Local Authorities follow this approach but many do however allow exceptions on 50 mph roads with obvious potential hazards. The B4640 is one such road with a great number of house entrances, track openings including the entrance to Horace Hill School. I ask you therefore to make an exception in this case.
In your reply to Tony Webb in December, you referenced the VAR (Vehicle Activated Road sign) on the A339 between the ‘Swan roundabout’ and the ‘Tesco roundabout’. This is a permanent machine which differs from a mobile SID but still reflects concerns about traffic speeds in this area. Indeed, West Berks Council are attempting to get the speed limit of 50 mph reduced and as you will see in my recent exchange with them (see copy email below) I have asked for their help and assistance in attempting to do the same along the B4640, which is in effect an extension of the A339.
My note below also sets out the rationale for seeking the deployment of our SID. It is not about using the sign to permanently reduce traffic speeds nor reinforce speed limits, it is principally about gathering objective evidence in order to assess the case for any further action – such as a VAR, a speed camera, speed limit reduction and/or traffic calming measures.
The new generation of SID machines can provide a full and detailed picture of traffic speeds to underpin such an assessment. This was not the case with the older SID machine operated by Newtown Parish Council.I am not sure you are aware that for many years our old SID machine was deployed on both the C45 AND the B4640 under contract with B&DBC. Here is the data it generated. [Data from prior SID deployments provided]
This was a mobile battery operated machine and was successfully deployed without incident on the B4640 over several years.
It was replaced by us in late 2022 to reduce costs and provide us with better data on traffic flows and speeds.Our new SID was initially deployed on the C45 for a prolonged period to assess traffic speeds and it revealed some quite alarming results.
Nearly 75% – 3 out of 4 vehicles exceeded the speed limit of 30 MPH. This compares with 51% of cars as the National average exceeding a 30 mph
15% of all vehicles in Newtown were travelling above 39 MPH as they passed the sign – again way above the National average of 5%*
The highest recorded speeds averaged a shocking 66 MPH per week with the highest speed recorded during this period – an unbelievably dangerous 85.7 MPH!
A report was sent to Hampshire Highways who agreed that this was very concerning information and that action should be taken. They referred us to Hampshire Police. The latter however, referred us back to Hampshire Highways saying that they were unable to take enforcement action and we should take this up with HCC. Despite several follow ups with HCC and Hampshire Police we are 12 months on and nothing has happened. Traffic still speeds recklessly along this narrow road up through the blind bends at Jonathan Hill towards Burghclere. N.B. I would be very happy to send you copies of our report and the correspondence exchanges.
You will also see from the above why Newtown Parish Council are so concerned about the current state of the C45 which for the most part is an ice sheet on frosty mornings due to the constant flow of spring water in the middle of the road.
In summary therefore, we wish to deploy our SID along the B4640 primarily in order to compile data and to assess the case for further action to address concerns about traffic speeds. If Hampshire Highways will not currently sanction permanent deployment, will they allow us to deploy the machine for a limited period of say 4 months for us to do this?
We will of course ensure that all health and safety guidelines are followed when installing the machine and changing the battery and we will of course share all the data analysis with Hampshire Highways.
700 people have signed a petition asking for this to happen and on behalf of them and Newtown Parish Council, I ask you again to please allow us to do so.
Newtown Parish Council – 12th January 2024
B4640 / Newtown Straight
As you may know, your parish council is prohibited from using the recently purchased Speed Indicator Device (SID) on the B4640. The relevant authority, Hampshire Highways (HH) does not allow SIDs to be used on roads where the speed limit is 50 mph or higher. This seems an arbitrary ruling, especially as West Berkshire Council has installed such a device just across the county boundary on the A339 which also has a 50 mph limit.
As your PC, we are well aware that there are numerous instances of speeding along the Newtown Straight – as this section of the B4640 is known. We are hoping to assemble a petition of local residents in order to put pressure on HH and to get approval for the SID to be used on this dangerous section of road. You can support this petition here.
C45 / Well Street
We have been pursuing Hampshire Highways with regards to the drainage issues on the C45. We have received the following response from Nick Adams-Smith, Lead Cabinet Member for Universal Services (Highways, Transport, Environment, Countryside and Communities). (12th September 2023)
Hampshire Highways have now inspected the various issues and locations mentioned and I am able to provide the following update.
The Highways team have ordered a trial hole to expose and repair the damaged pipe at the underground spring location. As part of this repair, the team will undertake high powered water jetting to ensure the pipe is clear and working as expected. Alongside this, the highway drainage system along the full length of Well Street will be cleaned to ensure it is working to maximum capacity. This will also involve mapping the system to ensure records are up to date.
To reduce the amount of water running down Well Street from The Common, the team will look to install or re-install a number of roadside grips to allow water to run off the carriageway rather than downhill towards the church. It is hoped this will, in some part, alleviate the concerns and issues raised surrounding this area.
The above works will require a road closure to be carried out, which is yet to be confirmed and so I’m currently unable to provide a specific date work will be completed. However, the team are looking to have all the works mentioned completed at the same time and are working hard with the delivery team to ensure this happens before we reach the wetter winter months.
Drainage improvement schemes are prioritised across the whole of Hampshire based on a number of factors. Such factors include, the number of reports of flooding received, the amount of flooding, where internal property flooding has occurred and the road classification and speed limit where appropriate. The number of potential improvement scheme far outweighs the available budget each year and therefore it is unlikely currently that Well Street would feature highly in the priorities for improvement schemes. However, in the interests of ascertaining how much of an issue this is from reports received the team have checked our customer database to review the number of related reports logged. They have confirmed there has only been one enquiry reported since the pipe was installed, at the groundwater spring location in February 2021, which would indicate the works previously completed have generally been successful and not indicate this site is a high priority for a substantial drainage improvement scheme at this time.
The Highways team hope the works outlined will help improve the situation but should yourself, or local residents, find this is not the case I encourage issues to be reported via the website on the link provided below. Where possible, include photographs in any report or updates as this will aid in understanding the severity of the issues being faced. If the issues persist after the proposed works are completed, the Highways team will be happy to discuss the next steps at that time.