THE missing million-pound link in the New Forest's biggest road scheme of the 1990s could be built within a year.

Totton's £22m Western Bypass taking the A326 through to the M27 was opened in 1994 without a right turn at its big Colbury Junction to take traffic on to the A35 and Lyndhurst.

That meant a 1.4-mile detour for traffic travelling south from the motorway. Drivers had to head east to the Rushington Roundabout and then do a 360-degree turn and cross the bypass on its westbound journey.

But a meeting of the New Forest Transportation Strategy Members' panel at Winchester heard that the long wait could soon be over.

Hampshire County Council transport policy team leader Peter Murnaghan told the panel that the final £1m stage of the construction work could start next autumn.

Before that work gets under way, he said, a scheme aimed at slowing traffic on its route through Ashurst will be drawn up.

He added: "The scheme will include measures to ensure that the speed limit is enforced, with such things as road narrowing and pinch-points and finding safer places for people to cross."

Mr Murnaghan added that designs for the Ashurst measures will go on display early in the new year and said the prospect of completion was welcomed by the area's county councillors.

When Totton North Councillor Frank Bright, whose division includes Ashurst and Colbury, asked when there would be an official opening, he was told by Mr Murnaghan: "I would like to say within 12 months."

Lyndhurst's county councillor Mel Kendall said the turn would be welcomed in his parishes - particularly at Lyndhurst and Beaulieu - and Edith Randall (Totton South) said: "This lack of a right turn has meant double journeys."

But, with extra traffic set to go through Ashurst, its New Forest councillor Geoffrey Spikins said: "We do have some reservations about the proposals." He added that he hoped a county council officer would be outlining the details to a meeting of the parish council.