The Yew Tree Drive bus link finally opened in May 2008 after an inspection in December 2007 revealed that the scheme had not been fully constructed in accordance with the approved design drawings.

Most of Whiteley residents wanted the road to remain closed to all traffic, except buses, until at least one other access road such as Rookery Avenue was opened up. A recent Whiteley Parish Council survey concluded the following:

Rookery Avenue and Yew Tree Drive 90% of all respondents support the opening of Yew Tree Drive or Rookery Avenue or both roads to all traffic. 14% wish to see peak time closures to prevent commuter rat-running. 95% of Winchester-based respondents support the road openings.

However the opening of either Rookery Avenue only or Yew Tree Drive only are supported by 6% and 3% respectively.

86% of Fareham respondents support the road openings. The opening of either Rookery Avenue only or Yew Tree Drive only was only supported by 21% and 6% respectively.

Only 5% of respondents felt that both roads should be open to buses only (Fareham respondents 7%, Winchester 2%). 3% of respondents wished both Rookery Avenue and Yew Tree Drive to remain closed to general traffic (Fareham respondents 5%, Winchester 1%).

Whiteley Way would be a road link between Whiteley and the Botley Road to the north, this link is unlikeley to be built until the development of Whiteley North it would run past Tesco to join the A3051 Botley Road at Curbridge opposite Fairthorne Manor.

Rookery Ave could link directly onto Botley Road; however this has not been progressed because of land ownership issues.

It is likely that limited access into Whiteley will be preserved until the main Whiteley Way route Way is completed. This is because the expiry of some planning policies could have lead to Rookery Avenue and Yew Tree Drive being opened on to Botley Road for all traffic. It stemmed from when the Fareham Borough Local Plan Review (2000) became part of the Local Development Framework, with its policies being saved for three years.

When the three-year period ended on September 27, 2007 the policies not saved by the Secretary of State for a further period expired and could no longer be relied upon in making decisions on planning applications. Therefore on March 30 2007, Fareham Council asked the Secretary of State to save specified policies beyond the three year period and a Direction was recently received confirming which policies could be saved. The list included access roads to Whiteley which stated that neither Rookery Avenue nor Yew Tree Drive can be opened on to Botley Road other than for buses and emergencies before completion of Whiteley Way.

Since YTD was opened as a bus link people have asked whether it would reduce congestion around Whiteley if it was open for all vehicles. To test what the impact would be of opening Yew Tree Drive to all traffic, Hampshire County Council has used a traffic simulation model  known as SATURN to look at different access scenarios.

Further information is available here from HCC. 

Last Updated on Thursday, 05 January 2012 14:16