THE idea of a water bus service looks set to be mooted in a bid to ease the strain of local businesses affected by the current Sandbanks chain ferry outage.

Former Bournemouth Borough Council ward councillor Phil Stanley-Watts says he will be raising the issue in a public question at next month's meeting of BCP Council.

Mr Stanley-Watts said he had supported the idea of a water bus more than a decade ago when councillors were choosing between a marina and a surf reef at Boscombe.

He added: “We supported the marina and also a water bus service that could go off Boscombe Pier to be integrated with other areas including Poole and Studland."

Last week the Echo reported how businesses and residents both sides of the chain ferry crossing were fuming at the latest in a string of service suspensions.

The Bournemouth-Swanage Motor Road and Ferry Company, which operates the service across the entrance to Poole Harbour, suspended ferry services on July 12 following a fracture of one of the vessel's main drive shafts.

Day later it was revealed the service would be out of action until at least October.

This follows a lengthy service suspension after mechanical problems last year.

Mr Stanley-Watts said: "With the ferry being out, a lot of people are upset and businesses are losing out. I think there should be competition.

“Our proposal was for commuters and holiday makers to have an integrated water bus service. The surf reef was chosen instead, which was a disaster in itself.

“Even in those days, it was getting a bit congested.

"It is one of the worst areas for traffic congestion, it needs something like that.

"It would be environmentally friendly and using the waterways would be the best solution."

A Bournemouth-Swanage Motor Road and Ferry Company statement said: "We sincerely apologise to all our valued customers for this inconvenience and would like to thank all our contractors, surveyors and our naval architects, who are all working incredibly hard to return us to service as quickly as possible."

Back in 2007 the idea of a water taxi service was put forward to help ease congested roads between Poole and Bournemouth.