Over 4,000 people have gone online to view Transforming Travel’s proposed sustainable travel routes for south east Dorset. Dorset Council and BCP Council are now reminding the public that there are only two weeks left to view and comment on the initial plans for 78 kms of new cycling and walking routes and bus travel improvements ahead of formal consultation next year.
The Transforming Travel initiative will be the largest sustainable transport infrastructure improvement programme ever seen in the south east Dorset area.
BCP and Dorset Councils are working together to deliver this extensive programme.
Feedback received so far has focused on shared paths, access to specific places, safety and existing cycle/walking network connection.
Greener, healthier and better-connected region
Councillor Ray Bryan, Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment at Dorset Council said:
“I urge everyone, particularly those living in south east Dorset to view and give their feedback on these routes aimed at transforming travel and creating a greener, healthier and better-connected region.”
Councillor Mike Greene, Portfolio Holder for Transport and Sustainability at BCP Council said:
“We’re pleased that people are taking the time and opportunity to view these initial plans, and I encourage others to do the same. Comments will be taken into consideration and inform the designs which will be published as part of the formal consultation process next year.”
Online engagement platform
Initial feedback on the proposed sustainable travel routes can be made via an online engagement platform until mid-December. The routes in the Dorset Council area are:
- Bournemouth town centre to/from Ferndown
- Poole town centre to/from Ferndown and Wimborne
Feedback will be used to inform the design plans, with formal consultation due to start on Transforming Travel’s sustainable travel routes early next year.
The plans are funded through the Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) and form a major part of the region’s Transforming Travel programme.
Transforming Cities Fund
The Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) aims to improve productivity and spread prosperity through investment in public and sustainable transport in some of the largest English city regions.
BCP Council and Dorset Council secured £79 million through the TCF in March 2020. The combined populations of BCP Council and Dorset Council enabled a joint application for city region funding. Local contributions from both councils, developers, bus companies and bike share operators has created a total programme value for south east Dorset of £102 million.
Both councils are working in partnership with Public Health Dorset, More Bus, Yellow Buses, Cycling UK, Sustrans and others to deliver this extensive programme from 2020 to 2023.
BCP Council and Dorset Council’s Transforming Travel programme promotes changes in the way that people travel in the area. The TCF is one of the first programmes to be delivered under Transforming Travel and will be the largest sustainable transport infrastructure improvement programme ever seen in south east Dorset.
For more information go to www.transformingtravel.info
I have just read your Tranforming Travel Programme, and it was immediately clear, by just looking at the top of the first page, there was not one car features in the fresco. Walkers, cyclists, buses and trains: but no cars. To me, that sums up BCP and Dorset Council’s attitude to cars. Ignore them and with a bit of luck, they will go away.
Back in the 1970s I saw a plan that showed a project to by-pass Ringwood Road, from the Ferndown by-pass to Tower Park, and from the Bakers Arms to beyond Wareham. What happened? Nothing.
There was also a plan to link up the western end of the Wessex Way to Dorset Way at Alderney West. What happened? So called environmentalists objected and won their case, which ensured that the residents of Wallisdown Road were subject to years and years of heavy traffic and consequential pollution.
When the council did do something, it was a shambles and a complete waste of money. I am, of course, referring to the roadworks a few years ago in Castle Lane, where wider footpaths were installed, wider cycle lanes installed, and, you’ve guessed it, the road narrowed. And how many cyclists use those lanes? Certainly not enough to justify the expense. One day I saw a cyclist pedalling down the roadway, holding up a great queue of traffic. Crazy!
Cars are here to stay, whether they are fuelled by petrol, diesel or electricity. And given the choice on a cold, wet day, to either cycle, wait at a bus stop to catch a ride that takes you all round the houses before it gets you somewhere near where you want to get to, or get into a car and go straight there, it’s a no-brainer as to what choice is going to be made.
A dual carriageway should have been built from the Spur Road at Blackwater, right through to the Wimborne by-pass at Canford Bottom. And the by-pass itself should have been a dual carriageway when it was constructed. A dual carriageway should have been built from the western end of the Christchurch by-pass to Iford, and continued along Castle Lane and Winborne Road, to link up with the Ringwood Road by-pass that was never built, and also to link up with the Wimborne by-pass.
Of course, it will never happen. the roads in our area will remain clogged up, and the potholes, which are getting worse all the time will make travelling around here as unpleasant as it’s ever been.
As you say in your blurb, we have the third worst road systems in the country, and it will remain so.
Hi Peter
Thank you for your comments – if you could make these in the consultation they will be duly noted. Best wishes, Alex.
I see that transforming travel to make our environment more green is a bit of contradiction in terms of the trees that are being felled to make cycle routes.
The council chose the spring time to trim hedges and cut down trees when birds are nesting so to make us more ‘green’ you take away green trees and hedges, damaging the environment in other ways.
How commited are you to conservation? It is all about people and money. Without government funding you probably wouldn’t have it as a priority. If you want a green environment, stop building huge housing estates and polluting and over populating our county .
not sure I am in the right place but it seems a good starting point to try to draw some attention to the appalling lack of safe walking routes for pensioners at the centre of Ferndown. as i am sure the council is aware there is a disproportional amount of our most senior citizens in this part of the area. I would draw your attention to the cross roads of Ringwood road, new road and Victoria road (an area with senior citizens all around it ) yet there is no safe crossing system available to transverse this very busy (with fast moving traffic) is there anything you can do?