'WE NEED to put together a plan': Councillors believe more focused action is needed to tackle traffic issues in Bridport town centre.

It came after Bridport Town Council considered the findings of the recently completed Access and Movement study.

The town council's study, which saw around 6,000 Bridport residents participate, highlighted traffic and congestion as a key issue when travelling through the town centre.

Town clerk Will Austin said the study showed there was a good level of agreement across the town of what the issues are – even if there are different views on the way forward.

Councillors were asked to agree that the study should be shared with Highways England and that it is used as part of the submission to the local plan and neighbourhood plan review.

The council voted in favour of this, but several suggested the council should take a position on which of the three outlined options it could work towards.

Cllr Anne Rickard said: "Not everything will work for everyone. There will be compromises for cyclists, drivers, businesses. Some of the options are good, some put me off. The whole thing needs to be done sensibly and carefully.

"If we had a plan which we identified and said 'let’s go towards that', we may be able to work slowly towards it.”

Cllr Julian Jones said: “I think it's very important that the town council has a vision for the future of the central streets of Bridport and the surrounding area. People want to improve this town. Option 1 is basically just doing what we’ve already planned over the next few years.

“Option 3 is the way we can rescue Bridport from the mess its in long term. Looking out on the street at the moment the traffic is as bad as it has ever been.

"It’s perfectly possible for our independent shops to survive whilst improving the environment. I would like to express a strong preference for the most forward looking long term option."

Cllr Ian Bark, the mayor of Bridport, said: "The only way we can get people out of their cars is to have a proper flexible public transport schedule.

“We need to put together some sort of road map which helps people see that that vision could be realised.”

The report was developed by specialist consultants Streets Reimagined Highgate Transportation based on the feedback of local residents.

It presented three options with varying degrees of severity.

Option 1 would be to 'deliver current initiatives and make incremental changes to make foot or bike travel more attractive'. This would include making current temporary market day closures permanent, following through on plans to create better links on edge of centre, and enhancing gateways.

Option 2 is defined as 'embracing change' - creating a more people friendly centre, redesigning the junction layout in the town centre - for example, no turning on to South Street, developing a pedestrian priority street on Barrack Street and looking at potential park and stride facilities.

Option 3 is 'transformational', - a central pedestrian and cycle zone created with access restricted to limited times, a timed central pedestrian priority zone and multiple last mile delivery hubs at edge of town centre.

Cllr Dave Rickard, leader of the Bridport Town Council said: “We need to see if we can find some government funding, or from Highways England, in order to solve some of the problems that we have. We will find it very difficult to find a solution unless we address the elephant in the room.

“Unless Highways England can provide the funding, I don’t think we will be able to afford the best options.

“People are looking forward to the time where people get out on their bikes and leave cars, but since the invention of the electric car, there will still be just as many cars on the roads and holidaymakers and residents alike still need to get around."