THE end date to agreements on three major development schemes in Bournemouth are set to be extended by council leaders.
BCP Council’s joint venture partnership firm has various local authority-owned sites across the town earmarked for large projects.
Bournemouth Development Company’s (BDC) partnership business plan between the council and Muse Developments – a Morgan Sindall Group company – is a five-year rolling plan, which is usually reviewed annually to provide details on work taking place in the next 12 months.
However, it was not reviewed as scheduled in September 2022 due to the budget pressures being experienced by the council.
The partnership business plan is now due to be reviewed and submitted to council in late 2023, meaning it will have gone more than two years since it was last reviewed and approved.
In the meantime, cabinet members are being asked to extend the option execution date for three sites assigned to BDC – Winter Gardens, Eden Glen and Cotlands Road.
The Winter Gardens option execution date was March 2022 and councillors are being asked to extend it to September 30, 2024.
A report to cabinet on March 8 says: “This extension will enable FuturePlaces to continue to consider the regeneration of this area within a wider strategic context and determine if there are value optimisation and place making benefits of linking this site to the council’s proposals to invest in an improved, bespoke conference facility.
“It is appropriate to consider if the sites should be refurbished or developed collectively rather than in isolation to see if this would result in a wider more beneficial regeneration scheme.”
At Eden Glen, BDC is progressing plans for a residential-led scheme featuring 50 to 60 homes and active ground floor uses.
Amending the option execution date to expire on September 30, 2025, will enable viability work to continue so the project can come before cabinet later this year, the report says.
Cabinet members will be asked to extend the Cotlands Road option execution date to the same deadline, with a paper also due this year outlining the option for a mixed-use development with a new multi-storey car park, office accommodation, new homes and public realm improvements.
Approving the contractual amendments for the three schemes would give BDC a “clear direction enabling viability work to continue on these sites”.
On taking a decision not to approve them, the report says this would result in “stalled development activity”.
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