BCP Council Must Honour Their Promise to Pokesdown

Published: 16 February 2025

At face value, this is about the BCP Council’s last-minute choice to kill off a step-free Pokesdown Station. But this decision of the eleventh hour is not about the council, nor me.

It is about our town and what was promised to you, the people that call it home. 

Our confidence has taken a hit as a town. We used to know exactly who we were—the postcards showed us at our best.

Now, many people feel the town has slipped in how it looks. We feel the decline and we grieve all that we’ve lost. 

In spare moments, we wonder when things will get consistently better. I stood for Parliament because I share in that feeling.

The ambition and talent in our community—and in you and your loved ones—weren’t being matched by the people making decisions.

Pokesdown Station reflects this perfectly. It’s become a symbol of failure in Bournemouth; of promises made and hopes raised; headlines chased, and momentum lost; progress stalled and trust damaged.

But Pokesdown for Boscombe matters on a human level too.

It matters to people whose homes are closest to it, that might travel from it for work, and it matters to anyone who cannot access its platforms. 

Having grown up caring for disabled parents, seeing this project collapse when it’s the closest it’s ever been to completion is sad. For disabled people so systematically shut out of society, it’s even worse. It feels like being told you just don’t matter, that you’re not a priority.

I’ve been hot on the heels of rail partners. We have a design. It fits within promised funds. Work could start this summer. BCP Council just have to keep their promise and play their part. 

Councillors could then look back on the transformation with pride—a legacy to be proud of. Everyone wants to make a difference. The perfect opportunity lies on the platforms at Pokesdown.

Councillors could do this because they cared enough to support Pokesdown before. They could do it because a step-free station fixes the concerns they talk about—congestion, our climate, parking.

If they believe in our town—and see Bournemouth as equal to Christchurch and Poole —then they must keep their promise to Pokesdown Station. 

If they walk away now, how can we have confidence in them to stand up for Bournemouth in any devolution deal? If Bournemouth is forgotten within BCP, then why bother joining with partners in the Wessex area where BCP may yet be overshadowed there? 

It’s time for councillors to prove once and for all that Bournemouth doesn’t lose out by bringing the towns together as BCP Council.

The ball is in BCP’s court.