4 days ago
‘They're not on our side': Residents fume over ‘triple threat' war on motorists
As wide as a country road and stretching almost half a mile across Bournemouth, the town's cycle superhighway has so far cost more than £3 million.
Some residents believe the project is symbolic of a 'war on motorists', accusing their local council of prioritising cyclists and pedestrians at the expense of drivers.
According to a Freedom of Information request by the Daily Echo in 2023, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) council has spent £3.4 million on Wallisdown Road's cycle lanes and has earmarked a further £120 million for a cycle lane network of almost 50 miles in south-east Dorset.
At the same time, the Liberal Democrat-led council, which has declared a climate emergency, is set to close two car parks for redevelopment and could soon charge some residents £70 to park outside their own homes.
'I believe this administration and the cabinet are driven by their own personal belief system and ideology,' says Steve Moody, chairman of the BCP and Dorset Motorists group.
'You have got the cycle lanes, the closed car parks, and now these new parking charges. It's a triple threat. They are attacking motorists one step at a time.'
On a Thursday afternoon, in the midst of a heat wave, The Telegraph counts just 11 cyclists – and an electric scooter rider – across half an hour on the 9ft 6in wide bike lanes either side of Wallisdown Road.
On the road itself, barely wider than the two cycle lanes combined, we struggle to count the passing cars – there are just too many – and lose track once the number reaches the mid-300s.
'I spy has now been replaced locally by spot the cyclist,' jokes Mr Moody, who has lived in Bournemouth for 20 years.
He claims the authority risks following the path of Oxfordshire county council, which has become notorious in recent years for introducing divisive anti-motorist policies such as low traffic neighbourhoods and traffic filters.
Last week, BCP council unveiled plans to introduce parking meters along roads within half a mile of the seafront, with residents offered parking permits for £70.
It follows a spate of parking incidents during the recent hot weather when tourists left their cars on pavements, grass verges and even roundabouts. Officials claim the extra revenue will help pay for more tow-trucks to take away illegally parked cars.
But many residents feel they are being unfairly punished for the tourists' behaviour.
Susan Deakin, 76, who lives within the proposed zone with her husband Russell, 77, says: 'It's just another way to make money, money, money. If you have visitors, they are going to have to pay a small fortune.
'The roads are atrocious, the pavements are never swept, there's no police, but they are spending money on cycle lanes. They are not on our side.'
In Boscombe, a deprived suburb two miles from Bournemouth's town centre that would be affected under the plans, there is also a fear the moves will drive away business by putting off day trippers.
'Boscombe is already on its a---,' says Beverley Jones, 63, smoking a cigarette on a break from working at a nearby charity shop. 'But this is going to make it so much worse.'
'Our donors park behind us and come up the alleyway with their bags and boxes. If this goes through, a lot won't come and donate to us.'
Also in Boscombe, the council is planning to close two seafront car parks.
We meet George Farquhar, the town's deputy mayor, in the Hawkwood Road car park, which will soon be redeveloped into flats and a community centre, retaining just 51 of its 389 parking spaces.
Mr Farquhar, 58, a former film extra who is joined by his rescue greyhound, Billy, says he usually tries to stay out of the culture war between cyclists and motorists, but can sympathise with Bournemouth drivers who feel the council is not looking out for them.
He has publicly opposed the new parking permit plan, saying it will do nothing to stop tourists from parking illegally. 'Not one single day tripper will change their behaviour because they may risk a ticket because they don't do so now,' he says.
'People use the term sledgehammer to crack a nut, but they're not even laying their sledgehammer at the nut we want to crack.'
There is a growing fightback against BCP's transport policies. More than 3,200 people have signed a petition expressing a lack of confidence in the council over its transport and infrastructure policies. Mr Moody presented the petition to the council at a meeting on June 3, and it will be considered further by councillors.
Responding to criticism of the planned parking charges, a BCP spokesman blamed the Government for not allowing it to issue higher parking fines.
The spokesman said: 'Last year we wrote directly to the Transport Secretary to ask to be part of a trial for an increase in fines; we were told we would have to wait for a national change.'
On the closing car parks, the spokesman added that there would be signs redirecting people to a nearby multi-storey car park and that approximately £3 million is being invested in local transport projects, including the Boscombe Beach Bus and improvements for cycling and walking in the area.
On the cycle lanes, Andy Hadley, the BCP council cabinet member for climate response, environment and energy, said: 'The Transforming Travel programme and active travel schemes aim to [...] support bus, walking and cycling journeys to create a greener, healthier and better-connected environment where people and places are linked by a modern infrastructure.'
He claimed there had been a 13 per cent daily increase in cycling and 28 per cent increase in walking between 2019 and 2024 as a result of 'new infrastructure'.
