A FORMER New Forest councillor has hit back at claims that a new £1m junction is a failure.
Shirley Cooke said the recently opened right-turn facility on the A326 at Colbury was never meant to be a relief road for Lyndhurst.
The junction, which opened last month, provides drivers with an alternative route to the Forest.
But critics claim the majority of motorists are continuing to use the A337 Cadnam-to-Lyndhurst road - scene of long tailbacks at peak periods.
They have criticised highway chiefs for failing to promote the junction by installing signs on the M27.
But Miss Cooke, a former member of Ashurst and Colbury Parish Council and one-time chairman of New Forest District Council, has leapt to the county council's defence.
She said: "The new road scheme is not a failure.
"It was built to remedy an error made when the A326 was built and failed to include a right-turn facility for drivers using the southbound lane.
"People heading for Ashurst had to negotiate the Rushington roundabout and then double back, wasting a lot of petrol and adding to congestion.
"The new scheme was never intended to be a relief road for Lyndhurst.
"Hampshire County Council promised the parish council and residents at a public meeting that it would not be signed as an alternative route into the Forest."
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