Mayor of Poole hits out over lack of home for civic function

Poole Civic Centre had been the established based for the mayoralty function in the town.

Cllr Tony Trent no longer has access to the site after BCP Council emptied it to begin the ‘vertical slice’ project.

At present the mayor’s regalia is being stored at Bournemouth Town Hall and Poole Charter Trustee’s held their last meeting on the edge of the borough at Upton Country House.

The significant investment at the Civic Centre was to provide facilities for the mayor’s office and Dorset coroner’s service.

However, it was paused earlier this year as the council’s urban generation company BCP Future Places explores the viability of a hotel on the rest of the site.

Council leaders have said the ‘vertical slice’ has been paused rather than scrapped, with it being a non-negotiable part of any hotel development.

Cllr Trent said the work was due to take six months and the mayoralty team would be back in the Civic Centre before the end of the year.

Poole Civic Centre has been vacated

Now he does not know when the project will be carried out and efforts are ongoing to try and find an alternative home.

“I think it is atrocious,” the mayor said. “To me it just shows a complete disrespect for the civic tradition of the mayoralty.

“One of the duties of the charter trustees is to look after the heritage and the history of Poole and this part of the heritage.

“It seems crazy that as a mayoralty we do not have a base here.”

• Read more: Hotel option could be pursued for Poole Civic Centre site

Cllr Trent said the “sudden” pause of the work, shortly before the annual meeting, appeared to take even officers by surprise.

He said he was given the option of holding the most recent Poole Charter Trustees meeting at Upton Country House on the edge of Poole or at Bournemouth Town Hall.

The councillor for the Alderney & Bourne Valley ward said he opted for Upton Country House despite feeling there was encouragement to select the site in Bournemouth.

“To me these meetings should be within the historic Poole borough,” he said. “Really they should be here in the Civic Centre. The whole situation is such a shame.”

The experienced councillor said he is currently trying to explore options for a new temporary home while uncertainty remains over when a return to the Civic Centre could be. This includes the Lighthouse in Kingland Road, while the Guildhall is considered too small.

Cllr Trent said: “The ideal place is this place here where it has been for song long when the have done the work on the vertical slice but now who knows when that work is going to begin.”

In a statement, BCP Council leader Drew Mellor, who is a Poole Charter Trustee,  said: “Whilst the project continues and the budget remains as an approved element within the council’s capital programme, an opportunity to consider a hotel option for the remainder of the Civic Centre site has come forward.

Cllr Drew Mellor (Image: BCP Council)

“The council’s Future Places team have been exploring the potential for this. If this supports a case for amending the existing decision, the appropriate process will then be followed.

“However, to be clear, maintaining the mayoralty's presence in this historic, listed building is very much central to all of our plans for the future of the building.

“It is currently anticipated that cabinet will receive a further update on this matter in the autumn. In the meantime the project remains active, pending the conclusion of feasibility work.”