POOLE residents have declared war on council plans to charge for parking in beachside roads.

Yesterday two separate petitions each with hundreds of signatories calling for Borough of Poole to drop its plans were presented to officials at the Civic Centre.

One was a paper petition which garnered 3,150 signatures collected by Bob Lister, the other an online document on website 38degrees.org.uk with some 2,500 signatures, organised by Zac Furbank.

Mr Lister, who is chairman of Poole Beach Huts Association but was acting independently, said: “This demonstrates the strength of feeling among Poole residents about this plan. We have had nobody who has thought it a good idea.

“We are told by the council that this will aid traffic calming and road safety but they have not demonstrated to residents how this will be achieved nor where the money raised will be going.

“The biggest issue is Brownsea Island, they have 400 volunteers, where will they park? They can’t afford £15 a day. This will hammer Brownsea Island and be the end of it.”

The borough’s consultation ends on April 6 but additional signatures can still be submitted until April 13. The petitions will be scrutinised by the authority’s democratic services officers before Mr Lister and Mr Furbank return to the centre on Tuesday, April 26, to present both documents to a full council meeting.

Mr Furbank, an Oakdale resident, said his family had been visiting the beach at Canford Cliffs for generations.

“This will affect a lot of normal families who aren’t rich and can’t afford to pay to park all day,” he said. “My grandmother, she is 88, she goes swimming every day in the summer.”

He said the authority should recognise the unequivocal feelings of residents expressed in the petition.

“I hope this consultation is a consultation and not an attempt to fob us off with a compromise,” he said.

“We don’t want that at all, I have not encountered any resident who wants this scheme at all.”

At present Poole’s proposals will see pay and display parking introduced to several beachside roads in Branksome Park, Canford Cliffs and Sandbanks, including Panorama Road and Brownsea Road, Haven Road, Cliff Drive, Western Road, Lakeside Road and Pinewood Road.

Speaking to residents at a public meeting last month, Borough of Poole transportation services boss Julian McLaughlin said the council’s goal in implementing the charges was to reduce traffic problems caused by visitors to the beach.

He said the scheme was about “influencing people’s behaviour so that rather than getting in a car on their own they use alternatives”, and would sit alongside plans for development on the seafront.

Borough of Poole issued a short statement.

Democratic services manager Pauline Gill said: “Two petitions of over a 1,000 have been presented to the council for its meeting on April 26.”

The council is also seeking residents’ views on introducing car parking charges at Upton Country Park, Hamworthy Park, Lake Pier, Newfoundland Drive Skateboard Park, Rockley Park and Whitecliff Park.