Residents in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are to be given free swims as part of a residents’ card scheme.
BCP Council says it will introduce a free monthly swim to boost health and wellbeing, give residents discounts across the three towns, as well as offers on parking.
In her New Year’s message to council tax payers, Liberal Democrat council leader Millie Earl says she’ll keep fighting to protect local services and set a balanced budget.
She said residents will also have a greater say and involvement on local priorities, through the creation of new town councils.
Ms Earl said: “2025 has been a year of real momentum for our three towns – with more than £750m of new investment into our area, new businesses flourishing, exciting plans for play areas and green spaces allowing communities to thrive, and visitors returning more regularly – boosting our local economy.”
She said the council’s team was putting play areas back at the heart of communities.
“We’re taking that to a new level in 2026 by investing £4.4m into more than 120 play spaces so they can be loved by families, children and young people for generations to come.”
From April 2026, more than 100,000 residents across BCP will benefit from a simpler, unified waste collection service.
“We’re finally introducing long-awaited food waste collections in Poole, bringing all our towns in line so everyone benefits from the same, reliable system,” she said.
She also said the state of the area’s roads are improving.
“We’re filling potholes – more than 2,500 of them, in fact, and we’ll do the same throughout 2026 to make roads better for everyone.”
Ms Earl also said the council would continue its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and hit targets for net zero by introducing “a pilot scheme to make charging electric vehicles easier from homes with no driveways, as well as hundreds of new public charge points”.
