Closure of the B2146 through South Harting

The Parish Clerk to South Harting Parish Council wrote the following note on their Facebook page on the 7th August.

“Yesterday (6th August) WSCC placed a full road closure outside No 1, Brookside Cottages, to the South of the Parish church. This means that vehicles cannot pass through the village via the church narrows.

Unfortunately No 1, Brookside Cottages was hit by a lorry on 27th June 2024 and badly damaged. Subsequent surveys by structural engineers, the latest taking place yesterday, showed that although the risk of the wall falling is currently deemed to be low, the impact of it doing so would be high. As a result WSCC have taken the decision to close the road to ensure the safety of all highway users.

The situation is complex as the property is a listed building and will require the appropriate permission to be given before work can commence. A lot of work has been underway to try and resolve this as soon as possible, but this could take some months.

The road is likely to be closed for several weeks while measures are put in place to shore up the building with scaffolding. Once in place, if the scaffolding allows sufficient room, the road will reopen with single lane traffic with traffic lights.

The official diversion route will be along B-class roads although it is clear that people will most likely use local alternative routes. WSCC will monitor this.

As a result of this unanticipated problem, the road closures commencing on 12the September to install sewer pipes from Uppark will be kept under review.

The purpose of this post is to ensure the community is informed of the situation. I would be grateful if you could pass this on to others who do not have access to Facebook.

Trish Walker, Clerk to Harting Parish Council”