A council that spent more than £100,000 on public barbecues has been forced to close some for deep cleans after just 10 days.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) council began setting up 10 electric cooking stations along a seven-mile seafront promenade in Bournemouth at the end of July.
Councilors believed the project would be a ‘real investment’ as they had ‘seen it work in Australia’.
Locals were expected to clean the barbecues after use – but so much filth built up on three of them on Branksome beach, they had to be closed down for deep cleans.
Many have slammed the project as a waste of money, with Liberal Democrat councillor Vikki Slade calling it a ‘vanity project’ and an ‘absolute farce’.
She said: ‘We are not Australia. This is Bournemouth. The money could have been so much better spent on other projects which are needed, not something nobody wanted.
‘Whether or not the people who are using them are cleaning them or not, these fat containers need to be emptied daily by the council.
‘I’ve spoken out about this project from the start. Who is going to bring a scrubber and detergent with them to a beach?’
Ms Slade added that no thought had been given to whether vegetarians or Muslims would be comfortable using the barbecues after they were used to cook meat.
Each barbecue cost around £10,000, meaning all ten used £106,000 of taxpayers’ money.
Local Chris Cummings joked: ‘£10k for a BBQ. They’ve been mugged off, mine was £40 from Argos!’
Neighbour Dan Rooke said: ‘At what point can us taxpayers sue the council for negligent waste of money?’
Meanwhile, Carol Masterman questioned how the council ever expected their plan to work out.
She posted: ‘Is our council really surprised at this. People don’t take their rubbish away from the beach so expect that they will clean a bbq?’
When the cookers were installed, council leader Drew Mellor said: ‘We ask people to clean them afterwards, but our seafront officers will also check them as part of their patrols.’
The BCP has apologised after the barbecues were closed down ‘for a few days’, noting they are now open again.
The spokesperson said: ‘We apologise for the fact that the three beach barbecues at Branksome Chine were closed for a few days.
‘This was due to staffing issues but they are now fully operational. A further seven electric barbecues will be opening soon at Fisherman’s Walk and east of Bournemouth Beach.’
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