The Transport Secretary has approved closing 206 metres of Western Avenue for the riverside park. Andover Town Council was among the objectors at the inquiry.

The Secretary of State for Transport has authorised the permanent closure of 206 metres of Western Avenue and 27.5 metres of West Street so that Andover’s riverside park can be built. Test Valley Borough Council announced the decision on 15 September. (Test Valley Borough Council)

It is the last consent the scheme needed. The council already had planning permission, granted in September 2025. What it did not have was the power to take a length of public highway out of use, and that sits with the Department for Transport rather than the borough.

The council’s announcement says the decision followed “an independent inquiry held in public earlier this year”, required “after a handful of objections were received”. It does not say who objected.

One of them was Andover Town Council.

What the order actually does

The order is made under section 247 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Its Department for Transport reference is NATTRAN/SE/S247/6126. The schedule names two lengths of road:

  • A3057 Western Avenue, from its junction with Waterloo Court and running north west for a maximum of 206 metres
  • West Street, from its junction with Western Avenue and running north east for 27.5 metres

The order only authorises the closure in order to enable the development permitted by Test Valley Borough Council under reference 25/01047/FULLN. It also requires the developer, in this case the council itself, to provide the new and improved highways set out in that permission to Hampshire County Council’s reasonable satisfaction. (Draft order and public notice, National Transport Casework Team)

Alongside the closure, West Street becomes two-way. That is the change the objections were mostly about.

What the town council objected to

Andover Town Council’s planning committee reviewed the draft order on 15 December 2025 and resolved to object, on six grounds recorded in its minutes (PC 151/12/25):

  • the amenity gain could be had more cheaply another way, in particular by keeping West Street one-way
  • more traffic in West Street would harm living conditions at Chantry Lodge and for other nearby residents
  • making West Street two-way cannot be said to help road safety, and narrowing the pavement alongside the leisure centre and Chantry Lodge increases the risk to people on foot
  • more noise and more vehicle movements
  • more air pollution, the committee doubting the borough’s view that the impact is marginal
  • more congestion

(Andover Town Council planning committee minutes, 15 December 2025)

Objections to the draft order had to reach the National Transport Casework Team by midnight on 19 December 2025. Because objections were made and not withdrawn, the Secretary of State had to hold an inquiry before deciding.

The inquiry

A pre-inquiry meeting was held online on 19 May 2026. The inquiry itself opened at 10am on Tuesday 30 June 2026 at Beech Hurst, Weyhill Road, the borough council’s own Andover offices. Both were noted by the town council’s planning committee at the time. (Minutes, 20 April 2026; minutes, 11 May 2026)

The borough council says the Secretary of State agreed with the independent inspector that the highway changes are necessary to deliver the approved development, and that the decision sets out the benefits: the park itself, better walking and cycling routes, better connections across the town centre and support for health, wellbeing and active travel.

The decision letter and the inspector’s report have not been published by either council, and neither has the date the decision was signed. We could not find them on any government site either.

How the Western Avenue stopping up order reached a decision Timeline: planning permission granted September 2025; draft stopping up order advertised 21 November 2025; objection deadline 19 December 2025, the day Andover Town Council's objection was recorded; pre-inquiry meeting 19 May 2026; public inquiry opened 30 June 2026 at Beech Hurst; decision announced by Test Valley Borough Council on 15 September 2026. From permission to decision: 12 months of highway paperwork Stopping up of A3057 Western Avenue and West Street, Andover. DfT ref NATTRAN/SE/S247/6126. September 2025 Planning permission 25/01047/FULLN granted for the riverside park 21 November 2025 Draft stopping up order advertised, 28 days to object 15 to 19 December 2025 Andover Town Council objects on six grounds; objection deadline closes 30 June 2026 Public inquiry opens at Beech Hurst, after a pre-inquiry meeting on 19 May 15 September 2026 Test Valley announces the Secretary of State has approved the order Sources: National Transport Casework Team draft order; Andover Town Council planning committee minutes; Test Valley Borough Council. Graphic by Andover News
The order took ten months from advertisement to decision, because objections forced a public inquiry.

What the park is meant to be

The scheme turns the eastern arm of Western Avenue into public space along the River Anton, which is currently hidden behind a wide run of tarmac. The council’s own project description promises places for events and food and coffee stalls, a meandering path with seating, play elements, and an extended, replanted watercourse. It is meant to link the town centre, Town Mills park, the western side of Andover and the new Lights theatre. (thinkandovertowncentre.co.uk)

It is part-funded from the £18.3 million the government awarded Test Valley Borough Council to regenerate Andover town centre.

Council leader Councillor Phil North said the decision “means we can move forward with an important project that will open up the River Anton, create new green space and improve connections across the town centre, including with the new theatre”, and that the inquiry “provided an opportunity for concerns to be independently considered as part of a fair and transparent process”.

What it means for you

West Street will carry traffic in both directions. If you live on it, park on it or walk along it to the leisure centre, that is the change that will affect your day, and the pavement outside the leisure centre and Chantry Lodge is due to narrow. Nothing changes until the work starts.

There is still no published start date. The council’s own paperwork showed in August that detailed design was complete and construction was targeted at late 2026. It has not put a date on site works since, and the order itself does not set one. The project’s own web page had not been updated as of 21 September: it still says the stopping up application “is pending a decision”.

Expect the town centre road layout to change in stages, not overnight. The order requires the new and improved highways to be provided to Hampshire County Council’s satisfaction, and Hampshire, not the borough, runs the roads. Road closure notices for the work will appear on Hampshire’s public notices page, and we list the live ones each week on our Andover roadworks and travel page.

Sources