RESIDENTS have raised worries over traffic-calming measures proposed for a Bournemouth suburb.

The council is currently consulting on the plans, which centre around making routes to St Luke’s infant and junior schools in Winton safer.

The plans would mean an area-wide 20mph zone, amalgamating and formalising the current zones, plus a raft of traffic calming measures.

But people in the area, while welcoming the speed limit, say other proposals will make their lives difficult.

The plans would involve 70mm-high “speed cushions” in Abbott Road, Green Road, Hankinson Road, Heron Court Road, Markham Road, Maxwell Road and Somerley Road.

It would also make parts of the roads no parking zones.

A consultation meeting was held earlier this week.

One resident, Ann Malone, said the speed humps made driving difficult, especially for older people with medical complaints.

“I think most people would like to see 20mph in the area, but the desecration of the roads is a big problem,” she said.

“Quite a few will lose parking places. This particular area is so bad for cars getting scratched,” she said, adding that there were “quite a lot of angry people” at the meeting.

John Satchwell, road safety manager at Bournemouth Borough Council, said: “The rationale for the project is to create an environment which, because it feels safer, encourages more walking and cycling for shorter journeys and in particular supports our school travel strategy.

“One aim in this area is to link a number of separate existing traffic-calmed streets, thereby creating a single zone over a wider area. Other objectives include reducing the incidence of road collisions, addressing speeding and rat running complaints and providing a long sought-after pedestrian crossing.”

He said the main concern raised at the issue had been loss of parking.

“However this is particularly necessary for traffic calming features to be effective, especially on the bus route that passes along Heron Court Road,” he added.

“We have taken note of all the comments that we received and as a direct consequence have already considered a number of small alterations to the proposals, which we hope would be more acceptable to the residents concerned.”

The consultation runs until October 21.