Kinson One-Way: Bennion and Ibbett Change on 3 September

Two Kinson roads become one-way on Thursday 3 September. BCP Council made the orders on 19 August 2026 and they can run for up to 18 months.

Bennion Road and Ibbett Road will carry traffic north to south only, except for cycles, along their whole length from Hadow Road down to Kingswell Road. A 20mph limit arrives on the same day across four streets.

The council is not doing this to speed traffic up. It is trying to fix what happens outside two schools that share a site boundary: The Bourne Academy and Kingsleigh Primary School, which between them have in the region of 1,800 pupils.

What changes on 3 September

The two experimental orders cover moving traffic and parking separately. Together they do this:

• Bennion Road and Ibbett Road become one-way, north to south, from Hadow Road to Kingswell Road, except for cycles
• No entry except cycles from Kingswell Road into Ibbett Road
• Left turn only coming out of Pavan Gardens onto Ibbett Road
• A 20mph limit on Hadow Road, Bennion Road, Ibbett Road and Pavan Gardens
• Timed disabled parking bays, Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm, on the north side of Hadow Road beside No. 220 Kinson Road, and on the north side of Pavan Gardens outside Kingsleigh Primary School
• No waiting Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm on the north side of Hadow Road outside No. 5, and no waiting or loading on the north side outside The Bourne Academy car park
• New no waiting at any time at the Kingswell Road junctions with Adamsfield Gardens, Kingswell Grove, Kingswell Gardens and Glenville Road
• Extended no waiting on both sides of Kingswell Road east of the Kinson Road junction, outside No. 191 Kinson Road, and outside No. 191A Caroline Road
• No waiting and no loading at any time at the Ibbett Road and Kingswell Road junction

Why the council says it is doing this

The council’s stated purpose is “to improve safety for children travelling to school and to alleviate congestion issues”. The fuller reasoning is in the officer decision record that made the existing Hadow Road school street permanent earlier this year.

That record says the school street itself worked. The barrier at each end of the school day “has been positively received and supported by parents”, and both schools back it. But it also says the problem moved rather than disappeared:

challenges remain for the surrounding roads, particularly at the rear entrance to Kingsleigh Primary School on Ibbett Road where poor driver behaviour continues

Both schools and the ward councillors asked for more. The record commits the council to “an engagement exercise preceding a potential further experimental order for additional moving traffic restrictions on Hadow, Bennion and Ibbett Road”. The orders made on 19 August are that further step.

One other effect is recorded there and is worth knowing. Since the school street started, there has been an increase in blue badge holders wanting to get in and park within it. The new order answers that with timed disabled bays on Hadow Road and Pavan Gardens rather than by opening the street up.

The school street that came first

The restriction outside the schools on Hadow Road is not new and is not experimental any more.

• 14 October 2024: a trial school street began, closing Hadow Road west of Bennion Road to motor vehicles Monday to Friday, 8.15am to 9am and 2.45pm to 3.45pm
• 4 August 2025: the morning window was moved earlier, to 8am to 8.45am, after feedback from the school, and a further six-month consultation ran
• 8 April 2026: the council made a permanent order, operative 13 April 2026

Without that decision the restriction would have lapsed on 13 April, because an experimental order can only run 18 months. The permanent order cost about £1,000, paid from the council’s Active Travel budget, and needed no new signs or barriers because everything was already in place.

The consultation behind it was thin, and the council says so. Pre-consultation in July and August 2024 drew 67 responses. A majority supported the idea of school streets. Half said the proposal would have a positive or mixed impact on them and 45% said it would be negative. During the two formal consultation periods that followed, the council received one formal representation. Its own record concludes that “the low response rate to the consultation suggests that the majority of people do not have a strong opinion about the school street restriction”.

The date matters less than it looks

3 September is a Thursday, and it is not the day Kinson’s school traffic returns in full.

The Bourne Academy’s published term dates for 2026/27 put its planning days on 1 and 2 September, with Year 7 alone in on Thursday 3 September, Years 7, 11 and 12 on Friday 4 September, and the whole academy back on Monday 7 September. So the restrictions arrive on a quiet day and meet a full school run four days later. Kingsleigh Primary has not published its 2026/27 term dates; the only calendar on its website is last year’s.

What it means for you

If you drive through Bennion or Ibbett Road, that route stops working northbound on 3 September. Coming up from Kingswell Road into Ibbett Road will be no entry. Plan the alternative before term rather than during the school run.

If you park on Kingswell Road near any of the four junctions named above, or on Kinson Road outside No. 191, or Caroline Road outside No. 191A, check the lines before you leave the car. Waiting restrictions there are new or extended, and they apply at any time.

If you cycle, none of the one-way or no-entry restrictions apply to you. Both directions stay open on Bennion Road and Ibbett Road, and you can still enter from Kingswell Road.

If you hold a blue badge, the timed bays on Hadow Road and Pavan Gardens are the council’s provision for you, Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm.

If you want it changed, or want it kept, this is the unusual part of an experimental order: the consultation runs while the scheme is on the ground, not before it. Comments and objections are open from 3 September until 3 March 2027, and the council will then decide whether to make the restrictions permanent. Comment on the council’s highways consultations page, quoting reference E1 2026, or write to the Traffic Team at BCP Civic Centre, Bourne Avenue, Bournemouth, BH2 6DY. The council says it cannot reply to individual comments, and that any representation may be published.

Anyone wanting to challenge whether the orders are lawful, rather than whether they are a good idea, has six weeks from 19 August, so until 30 September 2026, to apply to the High Court.

There is one more change coming that the record flags but does not date. Children at The Bourne Academy who walk and cycle in via Learning Lane told the council the route is too dark and that they feel unsafe because of drivers parking across the path and turning onto it. The council says it is exploring options for Learning Lane and its junction with Green Lane, and that any traffic order changes would be consulted on separately.

What else is closed or changing on the roads is on our Bournemouth roadworks and travel page, and the permit zones and tariffs are on parking in Bournemouth.

Sources

• BCP Council, Bennion Road and Ibbett Road Experimental Traffic Order consultation (reference E1 2026) for the measures, the 3 September start and the consultation window.
• E1 2026 deposit document for the statement of reasons and the formal schedules.
• Notice of making of the Bennion Road and Ibbett Road experimental orders, published 21 August 2026 for the 19 August making date, the full schedule of restrictions and the High Court window.
• BCP Council, Hadow Road Experimental Traffic Order consultation (reference E3 2024) for the trial history and the decision to make it permanent.
• Officer Decision Record for Hadow Road School Street (reference M113) for the pupil numbers, the consultation responses, the £1,000 cost, the blue badge finding, the Ibbett Road quote and the Learning Lane commitment.
• Notice of making for the Hadow Road permanent order (reference M113) for the 8 April 2026 making date and the 13 April operative date.
• The Bourne Academy term dates for the September 2026 return dates.