THE deputy leader of BCP Council said he was “blown away” by the public’s opinions on developing the piers and said all seafront projects should be “connected”.

Councillor Philip Broadhead, who is also portfolio holder for regeneration, said a group has now been set up to enable the council to start delivering on the £2 billion sites across the conurbation.

He said: “I was blown away by the reaction, clearly there is a lot of excitement about the wider regeneration of the area.

“One of the key projects is the seafront estate as a whole, what we call the Bournemouth arch.

“We are just starting now to think big about what the seafront offering will be across Bournemouth.

“The scope of opportunity is huge. It would be a failure if we look at projects in isolation. We have plans for the BIC that should be included in the seafront plans.

“Rather than it being rebuilding the piers, it is a proper sea front regeneration project, we have started work and will be engaging with the community.”

Mr Broadhead said the council has recruited the help of Gail Mayhew from Building Better, Building Beautiful for the projects and has increased the regeneration budget by 500 per cent.

He added: “Work has started and I hope plans will be in place by the end of the year.

“It shouldn’t just be a council development company, the opportunity of £2bn urban development, it needs to be run by the experts.”

Mr Broadhead started the discussions on the piers in January this year.

At the time he said: “We are going to be looking at the seafront opportunities, we have one of the best beaches in Europe and we want to put a focus on the offering we have, that is not just for people coming in, that is local people as well.

“We are going to look really closely at how we can unleash the potential. The piers have a long and proud history, I don’t personally think change is a bad thing.

“We all need to be proud of what we have got, I would be really interested to hear people’s views on what the future of the piers should be.”