Poole Park: Entrance to stay shut to cars after consultation

The entrance/exit at Whitecliff Road and Twemlow Avenue was controversially shut by BCP Council last January as part of a four-week trial. 

Since then, fierce opposition has been campaigning against it, accusing BCP’s leadership of being “anti-car” and accusing them of “already making their mind up”. 

But now BCP Council has confirmed the road will continue to be closed following the end of the consultation at 11.59pm last night, February 13. 

Cllr Andy Hadley, portfolio holder for climate response, environment and energy, said the authority is “reviewing the timeline” of the consultation after receiving thousands of letters.

Bob Lister said he expects the consultation results to conclude the park should stay open (Image: Daily Echo)

Lead campaigner against the closure and Poole resident Bob Lister said he was not surprised the council will be keeping the gates closed, but hopes his side will eventually come out victorious. 

He said: “I think looking at the amount of followers we have on Facebook [1,400], and if you imagine they are households of two to three people, we could possibly have won the vote.

Read more: Poole Park Railway suspended for foreseeable after latest crash

“But it’s sad they are not going to make a decision soon. We don’t know how long it will take to read through the results. It was also a very biased consultation, with a lot of closed questions.” 

Bob added: “I don’t understand why they don’t keep it open now and then decide in May at their cabinet meeting.” 

More than 5,000 people responded to the consultation. In comparison, the Bournemouth town centre survey had 2,800 responses and the 2024/25 budget, which asks on a large number of service cutbacks, had 2,500. 

Cllr Andy Hadley, portfolio holder for climate response, environment and energy, said the response to the trail was “much bigger than expected”. 

“We are now looking at analysing all these responses and understanding every piece of feedback and insight on either side of the debate that park users took the time to share with us,” he said. 

“It's clear that with such a high response rate, the decision-making process will take longer than we originally planned, and it now seems more appropriate for this decision to be debated and considered in an open public meeting.

"That is why the item is on the forward plan to be discussed at the cabinet meeting in May, but we are looking at how we can shorten the timeline and discuss it earlier than that.  

“Whilst we are reviewing the timeline, the entrance and exit to the park will remain closed as originally advised.” 

As reported, active travel group BH Active Travel defended the Three Town Alliance’s bid to close it to passing cars.  

A spokesman for BHAT claimed those against the closure were a “vocal minority” and that it is “only prejudiced to one specific group of people - car drivers who drive straight through the park”.  

BH Active Travel’s chairwoman Lucie Allen added the closure will “benefit all park users”. 

Cabinet members from the Three Town’s Alliance administration will consider “a report on the improvement of the environment in Poole Park through a trial closure” at a meeting on May 22.