BOULDERS could be added to some Bournemouth green spaces by next summer to stop poor parking – together with new traffic and public safety orders.

The suggestions comes after another summer of visitors to the conurbation saw some parking badly, often on green spaces, verges and parkland.

Cllr David Kelsey said he would welcome boulders on the open spaces at the East Cliff, Bournemouth, the ward he represents and where he lives, after seeing the area being used as an unofficial car park at peak times by some tourists.

Portfolio holder for culture and vibrant places Cllr Beverley Dunlop said: “We do seem to suffer from a cohort of visitors whose behaviour is not what we are used to.

“It seems that no matter what we do some people are determined to get as close to the sea as they can.”

Transport portfolio holder Cllr Mike Greene said some further work could be needed to the beach visitor app because it was often the case that visitors were trying to get to full car parks close to beaches when other sites, a short distance away, had spaces.

“It ends up with people parking where they shouldn’t be,” he said.

Councillors were told that, in many cases,for those pitching tents on the beach and elsewhere there was little which could be done at the moment to stop it – with no action generally possible if people were not asleep, or if a tent was not closed up.

Read more: Thousands of summer parking fines cancelled by BCP Council

An overview and scrutiny committee was told that a new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) was being considered to tackle some of the ongoing. This could require a public consultation exercise on the ideas.

It heard that, since Covid, the area had found itself dealing with ‘new behaviours’ from many visitors who simply ignored many rules in their rush to get to a local beach.

Despite the problems the meeting heard that this year’s “seasonal response” had been better than previous years.

Read more: Anger as cars block roads and pavements at East Cliff

Seafront officer Kelly Ansell said the April to September operation, co-ordinated by a multi-agency control room, had coped exceptionally well although the resorts had not seen the peaks of the previous two years.

She said that the plan would be ‘tweaked’ before next year but this year’s operation had produced positive feedback, including how safe visitors felt, and how other councils had come to the area to learn from the local authority's operation.

“We should be very proud of it,” she said.