Boardmasters to battle traffic chaos with new Devon coaches

Boardmasters to battle traffic chaos with new Devon coaches

Boardmasters festival has a new plan to ease the chaos caused by thousands of cars, including new coaches from Exeter and Plymouth. One of the main routes to the festival, which usually sparks regular traffic jams, will be changed this year to only allow shuttle buses and taxis. The aim is to stop thousands of cars from affecting the local community.

A car park that caused problems last year will also be changed. By moving day parking and pick-up and drop-off to an off-site car park, the event hopes to remove around 4,000 cars from the roads in Porth and Newquay.

A new service will be launched for day coach return services within a 90-minute radius of the festival. The buses will run from various locations, aiming to decrease traffic volume and offer a safe travel alternative for local visitors.

The buses will run from Exeter, Okehampton, Bodmin, Cornwall Services, Penzance, Falmouth, Truro, Plymouth, Launceston, Helston, Liskeard, St Austell, Treverbyn and Roche

Concerns about the impact on local roads were raised at a Cornwall Council meeting yesterday. Councillors agreed to let Boardmasters increase its capacity from 53,000 to 58,000 from this year to 2026. The festival organisers had asked for an increase to 66,000 by 2026.

In a health and safety report, a council officer said that the festival’s Blue car park was “particularly chaotic and inadequately managed”. Local councillor John Fitter expressed concerns about the traffic impact on local roads, as raised by Newquay residents, and said he could not willingly agree to an increase in capacity as a result.

Matthew Phipps, speaking for Boardmasters, admitted to the committee: “It is impossible for us to sit in front of you today and not recognise that there will be impact. Are there modest cases of where things weren’t attended to properly? Probably. We are constantly looking to learn and improve but I’m bound to make the point that congestion, delays on the road network, is not, respectfully, public nuisance.”

Cllr Phil Seeva replied: “That’s an underuse of the word ‘probably’ and an underuse of the word ‘modest’. The reports that we’ve seen, not just from a disgruntled neighbour but from the divisional member, is that we had issues with road closures not being attended properly by staff, a lack of signage in some areas and a complete breakdown of the one-way system. Can you assure me that you have confidence that you will be able to deal with that this time round?”

Mr Phipps responded that the one-way system issue was not a breach of their traffic plan given it allows the road to become two-way post-festival to facilitate efficient exit. He assured other issues would not reoccur in 2024.

Boardmasters’ boss Andrew Topham has shared plans to change things this year to help with traffic and the local area. He mentioned: “We take the impact on the traffic system incredibly seriously. We strive to minimise it every year.”

He wasn’t pleased with how the Blue car park and Porth roundabout worked last time.

“It’s something we’ve gone away and reviewed and, irrespective of the licence being granted or not, we will be changing to make it better. The Porth roundabout system doesn’t cope on any busy summer day in Newquay, let alone when you put on one of the country’s bigger festivals near the town.”

“We’re going to completely remove drop-off and day parking from those car parks. We’ve taken new space out which has hard-standing and we will build a park and ride to relocate those car parks and significantly reduce the traffic through Porth roundabout system and down through Porth beach.”

Now, only shuttle buses and taxis will go through Porth. More shuttle buses have been added and they’ll be cheaper to use.

“We’re incredibly confident that will improve and reduce the impact of Boardmasters traffic on the local community,” he said.

The festival plans to reduce car visits by expanding its partnership with Big Green Coach, offering a carbon-neutral travel option. They aim to transport 7,000 passengers in 2024 through ticket and coach packages, increasing coach travel by 70% yearly and removing 2,917 cars from the roads.

Cllr Joanna Kenny, representing Newquay Town Council at the licensing meeting, expressed concerns about the festival’s traffic management plan. She highlighted the dangers faced by young people walking back up the hill at night and questioned whether Cornwall Council could handle increased numbers.