BOURNEMOUTH council has announced plans to build a new bus hub in the heart of the town centre – if it can buy the site.

The NCP car park at Exeter Road, which housed the town’s bus station until a fire in 1976, has been selected as the best place to site a new transport hub.

Bournemouth council intends to apply for planning permission for a bus hub and then, if that is granted, negotiate with NCP over buying the site.

NCP has previously agreed to sell the land to private development company Licet, which has planning permission to build a multiplex cinema and restaurant complex there.

The council has said it will compulsorily purchase the site if necessary, as it did with the Imax building on Bournemouth seafront.

Up to £10million is being set aside for the scheme.

Cllr John Beesley, leader of Bournemouth council, said: “There is a real need for a new transport hub in the town centre and this was identified in the Town Centre Area Action Plan.

“The existing bus pick-up and drop-off in Gervis Place is congested and struggles to cope with existing numbers of buses and passengers.

“This demand is likely to rise as we encourage local residents and visitors to use more sustainable forms of transport.”

The council has investigated 10 sites around the town centre to find the best location for a bus hub and has concluded that the NCP car park is the best solution.

The bus hub proposals are described as an interim scheme that would remain in place until a viable, mixed-use scheme can be progressed.

Asked whether the bus hub would require public subsidy, the council said only it would look to minimise this.

The proposals will go before cabinet members next Wednesday, asking for approval to submit a planning application.

The council’s decision to pursue plans to build a bus hub at Exeter Road is the latest twist in the on-going saga of this prime site.

Originally supportive of the Licet proposals, Bournemouth council then decided it wanted to see a bus station built on the site and tried to thwart Licet’s plans by withdrawing their offer to sell them a small strip of council-owned land.

Bournemouth council believed Licet would not be able to build their scheme without the council-owned land but Licet amended the design and won planning permission.

The council then attempted to use the Town Centre Area Action Plan to make a bus hub a prerequisite of any development of the site but a Government inspector advised that this should be a preference, rather than a requirement.

Licet intended to start work this spring but recently admitted the deadline had been pushed back to the summer.