The Borough isn't finished but it is open.

Ringway ran out of paving slabs in February so the decision was made to get The Borough reopened ASAP with a temporary surface and return later to finish the works, all works are still due for completely by the end of November. At the time the decision was made there was no clarity on when the materials would be available, the work done on East Street by Crest Nicholson the delivery time quoted was 12 weeks and has been variable.

There are still snagging items on all of the sections that have been worked on so far, particularly associated with utility companies on Downing Street which are due to be addressed, these assets are owned by the utility companies and Surrey County Council cannot do the work for them as the Highway Authority.

The permanent lights at the Royal Deer junction are still being installed, this work will be complete by the end of April, which was the original schedule. Once all three sets of lights are working together (Longbridge, top of Downing Street and the Royal Deer), flows should improve, although whilst work is still on-going on Castle Street requiring temporary lights there will still be disruption.

Overnight resurfacing will begin in April, the roads to be resurfaced are South Street, Union Road, Victoria Road, West Street, The Borough and the Royal Deer Junction - when the dates are settled and the weather looks good there will be more detailed signage in town. I am sure many of us will be relieved to see that done, particularly South Street.

The two new two way sections take traffic out of the gyratory but allowing residents from the south to into the Waggon Yard car park and out again without going on along the narrow north / south section of Downing Street or the Narrow section of The Borough - both of which were pollution hot spots, because of the canyon effect between the buildings.

The loading bays that have been installed are for deliveries not for residents to park in. 

The project team advised that work needed to start on Castle Street as Ringway had run out of paving and Castle Street is to be done in Yorkstone to reflect the conservation area and the view to Farnham Castle.  The project team also advises that they are relooking at the planting areas and the underground services in those areas and that they will rework the design of the area outside the Tellers Arms (which was a bank when the design was "fixed").   

The project team advised that Ringway had run out of paving slabs and therefore proposed to bring forward the work on Castle Street and open The Borough on schedule at the end of March with temporary tarmac on the pavements / loading bay to later be replaced by paving.  

The Royal Deer Junction will reopen but with temporary lights, the permanent lights will be installed by the end of April 

The project team advised that issues have been identified at the Royal Deer Junction where they are currently working.

These issues are serious and require two utility companies to undertake significant remedial works which mean that the resource that has been mobilised needs to be reallocated to continue to push to complete the works as quickly as possible.

A plan agreed between the Project Team and Ringway (the contractor) has been shared with Councillors – this is an operational decision and therefore determined by Officers not Councillors. 

Councillors questioned why the team that were working on the Royal Deer Junction couldn't be moved on the closed section of The Borough to accelerate reopening. The Project Team has confirmed that this was reviewed but because of the limited space another work team could actually slow progress with people getting in each other’s way.

Local Councillors on the Farnham Board also raised concerns about the removal of the Island at the bottom of Castle Street that was reinstated because of safety concerns the last time it was removed. Officers advised that it needed to be removed to facilitate the work in this area and that the end state design will include a narrower crossing point with better landing points on both sides and greater pedestrian sight lights. 

The most impactful phase of the works was always going to be the closure of The Borough.  Local Councillors fought hard to ensure that both the new 2-way sections were implemented before The Borough was closed.   

Downing Street Reopened on schedule for the start of the Christmas Shopping period to support town centre businesses 

The initial phase of works focused on introducing the two new 2-way sections, so that they could be used when section of the gyratory needed to be closed to facilitiate the works.  

In order to introduce the changes in traffic flow an Traffic Regulation Order consultation was added, this was completed in 2024 all parts of the proposed changes were approved apart from the closure of Park Row to traffic, this element of the design was therefore descoped.