A Lib Dem-led council has scrapped plans to introduce £70 parking permits for residents following a wave of public backlash. The proposal by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council would have required householders in key seafront adjacent suburbs to pay for the right to park outside their own homes.
The plan, designed to tackle wild west parking behaviour by summer tourists, sparked what one campaigner described as a tsunami of objections from locals. On hot days, visitors have been known to leave cars on double-yellow lines, pavements, driveways, verges, and even roundabouts due to a lack of available parking near the beach.
To address the chaos, the council had proposed installing parking meters on streets within a 0.6 mile radius of the seafront covering residential areas such as Sandbanks, Canford Cliffs, Branksome Chine, Westcliff, Boscombe, and Southbourne. The revenue would have funded more tow trucks to remove illegally parked vehicles.
However, under the now-abandoned scheme, residents themselves would have been charged £70 per vehicle to park on affected streets.
Council leader Millie Earl announced the U-turn just days after the plan was made public. “We have listened and I want to give some assurance that we will not be supporting these draft proposals,” she said. “They are too big, cover too many roads, and we understand that paid for parking through residents’ permits is not a solution people want.”
Campaigners welcomed the decision. Mark Davison of BCP & Dorset Motorists said: “They’ve admitted defeat and run up the white flag. The public was furious.”
Mayor of Bournemouth George Farquhar, who had opposed the charges, also praised the reversal. “I’m very pleased the administration will not be supporting paid-for parking in the massive areas proposed. Penalising the offenders is far better than asking residents to pay to park outside their homes.”
Ms Earl reiterated her calls for the Government to raise the £35 cap on parking fines, arguing that current penalties are too low to deter illegal parking. “We 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,” she said.
During the past weekend alone, more than 1,000 cars were issued parking tickets in Bournemouth, with 10 vehicles towed.
Read also: Liberal democrat council to charge residents £70 for parking outside their homes
