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Barrier heads off boy racers
7:00pm Sunday 29th June 2008
Comments (30)A ROAD leading to one of the area's conservation and beauty spots will be gated off at night in a bid to stop boy racers in their tracks.
The overnight closure of a section of the Broadway will begin today and came about following concerns about the behaviour of a number of car cruisers who have been using the road and the Hengistbury Head car park as a meeting place.
The road which leads to the popular nature reserve will be gated off between 10pm and 7am each night to the south east of the Rolls Drive junction.
Ken Hobbs, principal traffic engineer at Bournemouth Borough Council, said: "The gating of Broadway came about following concerns from residents, the police and ward councillors about antisocial activities, including so-called boy racers, on Broadway and in the Hengistbury Head car park.
"Following various discussions, the idea of gating Broadway overnight to the south east of the Rolls Drive junction gained momentum. The council developed a scheme that included gating the Broadway together with a change of priority at the junction of Broadway with Southbourne Coast Road."
The closure is in place to run until December 2009 but the council said an application would then be made to formally stop up the gated area of the road.
Inspector Mark Kelly, of Bournemouth east police, said: "This gating order is something that Boscombe police and Bournemouth council support. Hengistbury Head is of immense importance historically and environmentally and the issues of antisocial behaviour by some drivers, and the threat to some members of the public caused by some dangerous driving, led us to seek a long term solution to this problem."
Ward councillor Basil Ratcliffe said: "It's been introduced because of hooligans coming from all over the area and congregating in large numbers at Hengistbury Head car park. The ranger was extremely concerned about damage taking place." He added: "By and large, people are in favour of it."
Your Say YourBournemouth Echo
QUEUE, EVERYWHERE says...
8:31pm Sun 29 Jun 08
Why don't the police do their job and arrest these inconsiderate apes instead of just making these idiots move to another venue .
dancingdog777, Christchurch says...
9:36pm Sun 29 Jun 08
Shall we retaliate by building brick walls across the Town Hall staff car parks, forcing them to park on the roads?
fedupwithjobsworths, Moordown says...
10:20pm Sun 29 Jun 08
dancingdog777 wrote:No - you just make Town Hall staff pay £6 a day to park like the rest of us.
Closing the Queen's Highway is an illegal act by the Council. Shall we retaliate by building brick walls across the Town Hall staff car parks, forcing them to park on the roads?
In Absentia, Bournemouth says...
10:26pm Sun 29 Jun 08
So for those law abiding people who might want to head to the area before 7am to walk their dogs or go fishing, now have nowhere to park with any convenience. Utterly useless decision by the traffic engineer and the local nimby Councillors.
r88ard, Poole says...
11:25pm Sun 29 Jun 08
bob_bournemouth, Christchurch says...
1:10am Mon 30 Jun 08
Why as ever, do the law abiding majority have to suffer restrictions due to the actions of a nuisance causing minority of Chavs on Wheels. Shame on the Council, shame on the Police for not stopping it from happening. They are paid out of our Council tax, shame they dont serve those who pay it. Needless to say no one has proposed putting a "safety camera" down there!!
skysurfer, Bournemouth says...
7:01am Mon 30 Jun 08
How many more places will become no-go areas and inconveniance the majority for the sake of the minority?
If drivers are breaking the speed limit - put some speed gun cops down there for a couple of nights a month to hit their bank accounts.
That will deter them.
As somebody said the boy racers will simply go elsewhere anyway - and it might be a road much more dangerous than this road 'to nowhere'
PokesdownMark, Pokesdown says...
7:48am Mon 30 Jun 08
..used to go to to Westover road where nobody was ever harmed or killed and no trouble was caused. This was closed off and they moved to Hengistbury Head...
r88ard is right, though they also used to congregate on the east cliff. So the council actually removed car parking spaces and turned others by 90 degrees. So these enthusiasts moved on again.
Now to me there is an obvious pattern. Car enthusiasts gather, some residents get the hump, council introduce measures that remove resources from everyone , car enthusiasts move somewhere else, repeat.
The solution is to provide somewhere these people can meet-up that is remote and discrete. I would have thought that the car park at hengistbury was absolutely ideal for this.
JamesR, Poole says...
8:48am Mon 30 Jun 08
Phil, Poole says...
9:00am Mon 30 Jun 08
bobo, winton says...
9:31am Mon 30 Jun 08
r88ard wrote:methinks one of these cretins was actually killed performing his heroics on the East Cliff a few back
Why dont you people get real for a minute...... Im a bit older now with a family but I used to be in to modifying cars and we used to go to to Westover road where nobody was ever harmed or killed and no trouble was caused. This was closed off and they moved to Hengistbury Head, you close that off and you push these harmless people further underground!!! Was anyone injured or killed at this location??? No.... Think of a harmaless hobby that you have and then imagine someone taking it away from you................ let them be for gods sake, if they keep getting pushed out then it will become dangerous and cost money
bobo, winton says...
9:34am Mon 30 Jun 08
meant a few years back
landy, Dorset says...
10:49am Mon 30 Jun 08
davey, bournemouth says...
11:19am Mon 30 Jun 08
if everything with a 10% bad egg ratio was shut down then there would be no activities left for people to enjoy.
They are all paying tax they have the right to use the roads as much as the rest of us, and if they are breaching the peace after 11, like said above just arrest them at that point they are breaking the law.
rfraser3, Bournemouth says...
11:55am Mon 30 Jun 08
QUEUE wrote:Quite - my sentiments entirely.
Revised:- Another negative reaction! Why don't the police do their job and arrest these inconsiderate apes instead of just making these idiots move to another venue .
Paul, Bournemouth, Northbourne says...
1:02pm Mon 30 Jun 08
bobo, winton says...
1:21pm Mon 30 Jun 08
davey wrote:may i suggest they go out to matchams raceway where they can smash each other up and not innocent motorists, enthusiasts my a***e they are just idiots
I know a fair amount of car enthusiasts and 90% of them are not apes as you put. Why cant they be provided with a place to go instead of just shunning them from place to place. if everything with a 10% bad egg ratio was shut down then there would be no activities left for people to enjoy. They are all paying tax they have the right to use the roads as much as the rest of us, and if they are breaching the peace after 11, like said above just arrest them at that point they are breaking the law.
karen, bournemouth says...
1:34pm Mon 30 Jun 08
Miketheplumb, Poole says...
1:37pm Mon 30 Jun 08
rook, poole says...
2:43pm Mon 30 Jun 08
However, when you spend £1,000 fitting a twin-carb supercharged large-bore, twin turbo to your metallic turquoise Beetle, 30mph down the Broadway isn't going to satisfy your right foot. Therefore, somewhere should be provided so these guys can enjoy their hobby. The key thing is that it should not be up to the rest of us to fund it!
Matchams has been suggested and there are other tracks where you can red-line to your heart's content. Yes you have to pay for the upkeep and safety at these places, but then so do the rest of us have to pay for our hobbies whether we like a spot of fishing or follow Arsenal up and down the country every week.
Phil, Poole says...
2:57pm Mon 30 Jun 08
davey wrote:Why can't they club together and pay for their own (preferably soundproofed) place to go, like other people with hobbies? They seem to have enough money to buy huge subwoofers and noisy oversize exhausts.
I know a fair amount of car enthusiasts and 90% of them are not apes as you put. Why cant they be provided with a place to go instead of just shunning them from place to place.
if everything with a 10% bad egg ratio was shut down then there would be no activities left for people to enjoy.
They are all paying tax they have the right to use the roads as much as the rest of us, and if they are breaching the peace after 11, like said above just arrest them at that point they are breaking the law.
These morons say that their ludicrously loud car stereos are to entertain people outside the car. Well, I don't want to be 'entertained' by them when I'm trying to sleep in the early hours of the morning, thanks very much!
samizwikid, ferndown says...
4:08pm Mon 30 Jun 08
They are only going to go somewhere else which is likely to cause more trouble there as they are out of the way then more other places.
now adays people moan about the silliest things. let it be they are doing NO harm
Gordon, Poole says...
5:24pm Mon 30 Jun 08
landy, Dorset says...
6:17pm Mon 30 Jun 08
samizwikid wrote:Would you be so in favour of these people if you lived adjacent to their "hobby" I doubt it, unless you are equally a moron.
wot does it matter about people meeting up showing off there cars. They are only going to go somewhere else which is likely to cause more trouble there as they are out of the way then more other places. now adays people moan about the silliest things. let it be they are doing NO harm
seafrontpatroller, Boscombe says...
11:46pm Mon 30 Jun 08
madcallie, bournemouth says...
2:22am Tue 1 Jul 08
landy wrote:How Big of you?calling people names,just for having a point of view?no doubt you'll call me names as well?
samizwikid wrote:Would you be so in favour of these people if you lived adjacent to their "hobby" I doubt it, unless you are equally a moron.
wot does it matter about people meeting up showing off there cars. They are only going to go somewhere else which is likely to cause more trouble there as they are out of the way then more other places. now adays people moan about the silliest things. let it be they are doing NO harm
PokesdownMark, Pokesdown says...
3:27pm Tue 1 Jul 08
Gordon wrote:And why not stop any driver with grey hair, a cap/hat or driving an old car in suspiciously good condition and subject them to an eye test at the roadside. Prosecute them for failed tests with a surcharge to pay the whole cost of the exercise. As their insurance will be invalid at that point seize their cars and make them walk home.
why not shut the gate when the boy racers are inside take their cars to a pound and have vehicle inspectors go over them with a fine tooth comb and prosecute them for faults found with a surcharge to pay the whole cost of the exercise points on their licence will increase the insurance on the cars any found with no insurance can be impounded under existing laws if the police are unable to do this find another chief constable
Honestly some of the comments in this tread demonstrate a huge amount of assumption and prejudice. Perhaps an echo reporter could actually do some investigation and find out what is actually going on at ground level rather in cloud cuckoo land?
kevin elkins, Bournemouth says...
9:05pm Wed 2 Jul 08
collinc@btinternet.c
om, Fordingbridge says...
1:16pm Mon 28 Jul 08
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QUEUE, EVERYWHERE says...
8:29pm Sun 29 Jun 08
Why don't the police do their job and arrest these inconsiderate apes instead off just making these idiots to another venue.