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Furious residents in a seaside town claim they can no longer use their driveways – because of council-installed bollards in a bike lane outside their homes.
Dorset and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council erected the 1 metre high posts in a bid to prevent cars from parking in the newly created cycle lanes. However, residents along Wimborne Road in Poole say they have obstructed access to their driveways – and left some people with nowhere to park at all.
The cycle lanes, located on both sides of the road, are part of a £120 million scheme to build a network of almost 50 miles of cycle paths in southeast Dorset. The council says the project will make travel more sustainable and reduce congestion.
However, critical residents say the scheme was a waste of taxpayers’ money. They allege that the council installed dozens of bollards without any notice.
Some say the have made manoeuvring out of their drives and onto a busy road “dangerous”. Debbie Woodcocks, 50, said the bollards have made leaving her home a “nightmare”.
She told The Telegraph she was “infuriated” by how difficult it has been to get out of her drive. She also believes the bollards have made the situation “more dangerous” for cyclists and drivers alike.
She also suggested that the narrowing of the road could impede emergency vehicles. Her neighbour Samantha Clarke, 44, is similarly annoyed.
She said he had been promised a dropped kerb outside her home and had paid £100 to apply for the required planning permission. However, she said she has now been told she can’t have the drop kerb because the council decided to prioritise the cycling lane.
Express.co.uk has contacted BCP council for comment. A spokesperson for BCP council told The Telegraph it will consider “adjusting the positions” of bollards that were blocking property access.
However, they also reiterated that they want to protect the cycle route from parked cars.
Andy Hadley, responsible for roads and cycle lanes, told The Telegraph: “We are committed to creating safe, sustainable and active ways for people, including schoolchildren, to travel locally to and from Poole town centre along this busy road.
“To encourage people to cycle they must feel confident that they are safe. These wands are intended to give them that confidence, by alerting both people cycling and those driving vehicles to the presence of the cycle route, affording a degree of separation from moving traffic and preventing vehicles from blocking the cycle lane.
“The team have attempted to balance maintaining access to driveways with protecting the cycle route, but have listened to feedback from residents and acknowledge that a few traffic wands have been installed in locations that impact informal access to properties.
“In locations where this creates the most difficulty, we are looking at adjusting the positions of the wands to ensure continued property access.”
Mr Hadley also apologised for the “inaccurate” letters sent promising dropped kerbs for residents. He said that can reclaim their £100.
“We sincerely apologise for sending inaccurate letters to residents on Wimborne Road and for raising expectations. The letters lacked clarity on the planning and highways permissions required to support the installation of dropped kerbs. Furthermore, these permissions could not be attained in the timeframes outlined in the letter. We understand how frustrating and confusing this must have been.
“The offer to adjust kerbing should only have been offered to a handful of households whose properties were within the planned kerbing alterations being undertaken as part of improvement work.
“We have contacted the residents who had responded to the letter, apologising for our error, and offered a refund to those who wanted to withdraw their application.”
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