29-06-2025
Lib Dem-led council U-turns on £70 parking fees after ‘tsunami' of objections
A Lib Dem-led council has U-turned on controversial plans to charge residents £70 to park outside their own homes.
Officials in Bournemouth received a 'tsunami' of objections from residents over the scheme that was in response to 'wild west' parking incidents by tourists.
On hot summer days many visitors who struggle to park leave their cars on double yellow lines, across driveways, on pavements, grass verges and even roundabouts.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) council wanted to pay for more tow-trucks to take away illegally parked vehicles by putting parking meters on roads within a kilometre (0.6 miles) of the seafront.
These areas were to include the residential suburbs of Sandbanks, Canford Cliffs, Branksome Chine, Westcliff, Boscombe and Southbourne.
Householders would have had to pay £70 per car to park on the streets affected.
But just days after announcing the scheme Millie Earl, the leader of the local authority, revealed the plan has been scrapped.
She said: 'We have listened and I want to give some assurance that we will not be supporting these draft proposals as set out in the survey.
'They are too big and cover too many roads and we understand that paid-for parking through residents' permits is not a solution people want.
'Without our backing the draft proposals simply won't be implemented.'
'Public was furious'
Mark Davison, of the campaign group BCP & Dorset Motorists, said: '[The council has] admitted defeat and run up the white flag. They are abandoning the whole idea.
'They realise the tsunami of public opinion was furious about this.'
George Farquhar, the mayor of Bournemouth who opposed the plans, said: 'I'm very pleased that the leader of BCP Council is taking the 'off-ramp' and confirmed the administration will not be supporting the paid-for parking in the massive areas proposed.
'Penalising the offenders is far better than asking residents for money from their pockets to park outside their homes.
'I'm glad that I put my flag in the ground on day one of this money-grab idea. '
Ms Earl said she will continue to lobby the Government on increasing the £35 cap on parking fines which, she says, are no deterrent to motorists who illegally park.
'We understand how passionately people feel about the chaos they experience at the busiest times of the year,' she said.
'We need fines for inconsiderate and dangerous parking to act as a proper deterrent and to raise the cash to invest in preventing illegal parking in the first place. But we've been ignored.
'We really want a simple solution to the parking chaos – and that is to properly fine and deter those who think it's okay to block pavements and driveways, and park on roundabouts and verges.'
Last weekend thousands of tourists visited Bournemouth.
