A MAJOR road improvement scheme for a part of Basingstoke that will have to cope with the pressure of thousands of new homes has been put on hold.

Local councillors have expressed concern that the combined £3.5million scheme for improvements at the A33/A339 Ringway interchange and the Popley Way junction with the A33 has been deferred.

The roads will have to cope with extra traffic from the north of Popley, Taylor's Farm and Binfields developments.

The decision to defer for one year was taken by Cllr Keith Estlin, the executive member for environment at Hampshire County Council, and reported to the North Hampshire Transport Strategic Panel last week.

He said part of the reason was that the county has received £34.1m from the Government for transport for 2005-2006 - this is £5.6m less than it received for the current year.

Cllr Estlin said another reason for putting the plan on hold is to find out at the end of the year what will be in the final version of the new South East Plan, which will determine development across the region until 2026.

A report from Alison Quant, county director of environment, said Reading and Basingstoke are both likely to have more houses under the plan.

In the report, she said that large amounts of data on journey patterns, traffic quantities and flows will be collected to help find answers to what should be done to the A33.

But some councillors at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council are not happy with the deferment decision.

Cllr Stuart Parker, Cabinet member for environmental sustainability, said: "It is a bitter disappointment, but if there are not the funds to do it then it cannot be done.

"It would have been good to have both infrastructure and development together."

He added that the borough council would make the case for the work to be carried out in 2006-2007.

Basingstoke council leader Cllr Brian Gurden, who is also a county councillor, blamed the influence of party politics at the Conservative-led county council in Winchester.

He said: "Basingstoke is bottom of the heap, with not much influence, because of the political make-up and the structure in which decisions are made."

He added that the decision showed how imperfect the current planning system is.

Cllr Andrew McCormick, who is chairman of the borough council's transport policy panel, is concerned that traffic would overload Carpenters Down once the north of Popley houses are occupied.

He maintained the interchange scheme will have to be the first part of a plan to turn the A33 to Reading into a dual carriageway.

Do you have a view on this issue? Write to The Letters Editor, Gazette Newspapers, Gazette House, Pelton Road, Basingstoke, RG21 6YD, or e-mail editor@basingstokegazette.co.uk