SUPPORT is growing fast for a campaign to stop the permanent closure of Hyde Street in Winchester.

An online petition has attracted around 400 signatures in a week since a recent Chronicle story again highlighted the issue.

Some 1,175 names have backed the petition on the 38degrees.org.uk website, up from 800 at the start of last week.

Last year the county and city councils introduced a temporary closure to through traffic to allow for the narrowing of the two-lane North Walls for better social distancing and to encourage walking and cycling.

But opponents say the price being paid is too high with clear daily evidence that the closure is increasing traffic on nearby roads such as Worthy Lane, Andover Road and City Road, leading to more congestion and pollution.

They are considering legal action over the introduction of the measure last year, made with no public consultation.

One signee to the petition today said: "Hyde Street is an essential arterial road from Worthy Road and must be kept open as such, queues on Andover Road are backing up past the Jolly Farmer as hundreds of Worthy Lane cars beg to be let in. The five roads traffic lights (at Carfax) are the slowest in the world to rotate. Everyone is totally stressed. If all pedestrians were told to always walk with the road on their right the roads need never have been closed!"

The issue is the most controversial road closure in the city since the shutting of College Street in the early 1990s.

Petition organiser Steve Harbourne originally aimed at 1,000 signatures but has now increased the target to 2,000.

The county council is now consulting over an 18-month closure. It runs until March 21.

The council is also asking opinions on other proposals: the narrowing of North Walls to a single lane, the widening of the footway on that street and a two-way cycle lane; a wider pavement on Jewry Street on the Discovery Centre side; a contraflow cycling lane on Upper High Street and a Puffin crossing on Romsey Road at the junction with Clifton Terrace.