Island concerns

The emergency closure of Havant Road, Hayling, on June 14 and the resulting serious disruption over 24 hours to traffic, commuters, commerce, schools and the general public across a wide area of south east Hampshire, as reported in The News on June 15, brought home the key concerns of residents groups, expressed many times through the columns of The News, to Havant Borough Council’s pressure to increase housing on the island. Social media showed scenes of the difficulty of ambulances getting through Northney Road. As soon as it was able, Hayling Community First Responders put three responders on call across the island to provide an initial response to emergency calls. With water in the mains serving fire hydrants in extremely short supply and all bottled water sold out in the island’s retail premises by 09:45, the importance of Hayling Fire Station retaining its two fullsize fire appliances, each with an inbuilt water tank of 1,800 litres, became immediately obvious.

Hampshire Fire & Rescue should be requested to reconsider its 2016 plans to downgrade one of Hayling’s frontline appliances to a smaller unit with 50 per cent less water carrying capacity.

The Pride of Hayling ferry came into its own, as reported in The

News, and although the Ferry Trust is actively supporting the ferry as an alternative access/egress point from the Island, the island’s Hampshire county councillor, Lance Quantrill, still refuses to support Langstone Harbour Board in continuing with reduced landing charges to assist in retaining this vital link to Portsmouth.

Finally, Portsmouth City Council should be ashamed of itself in dispatching its sub-contracted parking company to ticket all the cars that had to be left at Eastney as commuters struggled to reach the island as the main roads became almost impassable.

I would urge all those with parking tickets to submit them to

either the Portsmouth City Council or Portsmouth Water Company for a refund.

Richard J Coates Brights Lane, Hayling Island