A TRANSPORT guru urged Bournemouth and Poole residents to close their roads and hold two-day street parties.

That was just one of several radical suggestions from John Grimshaw.

He gave an entertaining and outspoken speech that was the highlight of a conference held at Bournemouth University on reducing carbon emissions.

He also wanted developers to build houses on supermarket car parks because they are the "ultimate brownfield sites."

Mr Grimshaw is the founder and chief executive of the sustainable transport charity Sustrans, which created the national cycle network.

"Every single street should have a street party," said Mr Grimshaw, from Bristol. "My street has one every year and the road is closed for 48 hours to traffic."

He said people could apply to their local council for a temporary closure order.

He was addressing a packed lecture hall during the Reducing Our Carbon Footprint in Bournemouth and Poole conference, which was put on by the two councils and several other organisations.

He talked about the local tourism industry and carbon emissions from planes - and said national income from tourism is £16bn but we spend £35bn in other countries.

He said: "If people holidayed here it would be much better for the country."

And he said Bournemouth should "not be proud" of having an international airport and pointed out students flying round the world on a gap year produce a lifetime's worth of carbon emissions.

He also wanted 20mph speed limits in towns, and said pedestrians and cyclists crossing road junctions should have priority over cars turning in.

He told the Echo: "Saying they have to wait for the car is saying they are second-class travellers."

A spokesman for Bournemouth Borough Council said afterwards there is usually a fee for street closures but this could be waived in the case of community events. There has only been one application for a closure in the last two years.