BCP Council and Dorset Council are seeking initial views from the public on Transforming Travel’s proposals for five of its sustainable travel routes in south east Dorset ahead of formal consultation next year.
The plans are funded through the Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) and form a major part of the region’s Transforming Travel programme.
The region is set to benefit from £100+ million sustainable transport improvements including 78 kms of new cycling and walking routes, smart technology to provide improved bus travel options and green travel hubs – all aimed at offering environmentally friendly, safer and quicker journeys to work, education and leisure in south east Dorset.
Initial feedback on five of the proposed sustainable travel routes can be made via an online engagement platform until mid-December:
- Bournemouth railway station to/from Jumpers Common, Christchurch
- Bournemouth town centre to/from Ferndown
- Poole town centre to/from Merley, Poole
- Poole town centre to/from Ferndown and Wimborne
- Merley, Poole to/from Christchurch
The public will be able to:
- find out more about high-level proposals for a range of cycle, walking and bus improvements along each of the sustainable travel routes
- participate in an online survey about current travel habits and views on sustainable travel
- submit general feedback about the proposals as well as specific ideas and comments about individual routes using the interactive maps
Online feedback will be supported by a series of workshops with Transforming Travel TCF’s partners, local interest groups and businesses.
Proposals for the remaining sustainable travel route (Poole town centre to/from Wareham Road, Holton Heath) is expected to follow later this month.
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.
Councillor Mike Greene, Portfolio Holder for Transport and Sustainability at BCP Council said:
“These sustainable infrastructure plans will make walking, cycling and travelling by bus much more attractive and give people viable alternatives to using the car, particularly for short journeys. Online engagement enables people to see and have their say on Transforming Travel’s plans despite the current national lockdown. I urge people to visit the website and help shape plans for transforming travel in south east Dorset.”
Councillor Ray Bryan, Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment at Dorset Council said:
“I am pleased that people have the opportunity to help shape initial plans for major, multi-million-pound sustainable infrastructure changes in south east Dorset, all aimed at creating a greener, healthier and better-connected region.”
Why is there no mention of West Moors? We are becoming more& more isolated.
We have only an hourly service which doesn’t connect with buses in Ferndown.
Re: Transforming Travel. Please could we have consideration for a bus route with say one bus an hour, that runs from Wimborne to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital & returns. Wimborne is growing larger & many more people will need to access Bournemouth Hospital for treatment now that it is the main hospital for the area. Also many older people like myself do not drive, & it takes 2 separate bus journeys to reach the hospital from Wimborne town. Taxis are very expensive if you have monthly appointments.
Why is Corfe Mullen left out of this?
Why does not cover all Dorset Area? Is it because the grant was awarded for BCP council? Do the residents of Winborne and Ferndown commute to workplaces in BCP council area? How much will this connectivity be taken account while preparing the Dorset Council Local Plan?
There need to be some measurable targets for such schemes – too often claims are made that £x million has been spent but ignoring that the spend has resulted in no meaningful change in travel habits.
All new cycle facilities must be kept separate from pedestrians – no shared paths
20mph speed limits are probably best way to improve urban environments
Yet more fashionable and unnecessary meddling in what is essentially a rural county with population centres consisting of a few small towns, with two of them now amalgamated into a fiefdom and power playground for self important local politicians. What is ubsustainble and unrealistic is the “sustainable” fashion for the anti car elite, so ably demonstrated in the utter waste of taxpayers money on such schemes and the lack of prioritising the so many roads in the Bournemouth and Poole area which are in an atrocious and vehicle damaging state of repair.