Flats plan in Princess Road, Bournemouth, back with planners

The £32million BCP Council project for a site in Princess Road received planning permission from the local authority’s planning committee in April last year.

While the council has entered a pre-construction contract with firm Kier, construction is currently not planned to begin until autumn.

Kier has submitted a planning application for a “minor material amendment” to vary the plans.

Councillor Philip Broadhead, BCP Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for development, growth and regeneration, said: “The Princess Road project is at the stage at which a pre-construction contract has been awarded.

“This the penultimate step in a pre-agreed tendering stairway and will see both BCP Council and Kier enter into a formal construction contract following further discussions and closer to a start on site.

Cllr Philip Broadhead

“Minor modifications have been made to the design following some of these discussions which has resulted in slight changes to the layout of the building. These cost-effective changes will reduce the overall cost the project and this is a normal part of the design process.

“The number of homes that will be available to local residents is unchanged.

“Following this process and assuming additional pre-agreed criteria are met, construction is set to provide 119 new homes and is planned to begin in autumn 2022.”

• Read more: Plans for four blocks of flats in Princess Road, Westbourne

CGI of the council development, which is set to be delivered by Kier Construction

Alongside the 119 flats 70 per cent of which would be provided on an ‘affordable’ basis the four housing blocks will also include a 20-bed emergency hostel for families at risk of homelessness.

The four buildings range from six to nine storeys in height and would be built in place of seven now-demolished villas in Princess Road, next to the Wessex Way.

It is not yet known whether the amendments application will need to go before the planning committee.

A covering letter submitted by Gillings Planning on behalf of Kier said the submission is required in order to meet the needs of the applicant, as well as delivering improvements for the proposed structure.

CGI of the planned development at the background viewed from the shopping area of Westbourne

The key changes are reducing the storey heights except for the top floors to “reduce height requirement and improve building efficiency”, redistributing and reallocating car park bays and cycle storage to assist with reducing the basement area, reconfiguring the residential blocks to improve “structural efficiency” and adding a lower basement level.

The covering letter said: “This submission, whilst material in nature, will continue to provide a very high quality design as per the approved application but crucially increases the efficiency of the available site space.”