COUNCILLORS have taken action to ensure that the hunt for a solution to Lyndhurst's worsening traffic problems stays top of the county roads agenda.

News that the scheme for a right turn on the A326 at Colbury has been set back almost a year left Lyndhurst councillors dismayed.

The new junction is predicted to cut the number of vehicles passing through their village and so reduce its regular jams.

Now the parish council has re-launched its 35-year-old Lyndhurst Bypass Sub-committee, focused on keeping county transport chiefs reminded of their duty to unblock the New Forest's worst bottleneck.

Lyndhurst county councillor Mel Kendal said : "Bank holidays leave us all trapped in our houses because we can't get through the village.

"County leader Ken Thornber and I are to meet soon with environment officers to look into Lyndhurst's problems, which are becoming more and more urgent."

Parish chairman Jim Wilding said: "We have been talking since the 90s and we need to do something now."

The saga of Lyndhurst bypass goes back way before the 1990s.

On and off the agenda since 1934, it is one of the longest road wrangles in highways history.

In the late 1960s, parish councillors set up a bypass sub-committee when several plans for a route round the village were under consideration. None came off the drawing board.

Then, last October, the newly-approved right-turn at Colbury - with its likely knock-on effect at Lyndhurst - put the old bypass scheme back on the desk. Parish councillor John Charlesworth said then: "The government has promised to set aside millions for village bypasses so we must push hard now or we might miss out again."

Now, as chairman of the reformed bypass sub-committee, he said: "As a parish it's our responsibility to stand up and say what is wanted by people living here.

"Everyone talks about a bypass but no one collates information or goes about the issue in a professional manner.

"We can direct pressure at the right time to the right people."

Cllr Frank Alexander said: "The former sub-committee was done away with a few years ago because of the futility of getting anything done.

"But the bypass need is still there, so that's a reason to start the sub-committee up again."