BCP Council pauses huge plans for Poole and Christchurch sites

Moves by opposition members put a halt on BCP Council committing to financing full business cases for Poole Civic Centre and Christchurch Civic Offices.

As reported, the council’s urban regeneration company FuturePlaces has completed outline business cases for the two projects.

Poole Civic Centre could be converted into a 150-room boutique hotel with 360 new homes built on the rest of the site.

Christchurch Civic Offices could be transformed into an 84-bed boutique hotel with part of the rear car park used to built 36 homes.

At a full council meeting on Tuesday, March 21, councillors were asked to progress both schemes to a full business case, with a combined cost commitment of approximately £2.1million.

However, the Conservative minority administration lost in two close votes after amendments were tabled to pause the decision to progress to the next stage.

Cllr David Brown, Liberal Democrat, who tabled the pause for the Poole project, said he was particularly concerned about the financial implications in the report, such as construction and borrowing costs.

The Poole Civic Centre site (Image: FuturePlaces) (Image: FuturePlaces)

Poole People councillor Andy Hadley said he was not sure “the dying meeting of the current council should be baking these costs in for the next council period”.

Cllr Mike White, Conservative, said: “To me this is a really important project for Poole and the people of Poole.”

Liberal Democrat member Vikki Slade said it was six weeks until a new set of councillors would be elected and around the same time until the non-executive chair of FuturePlaces, Lord Bob Kerslake, was due to deliver a full review into the scope, scale and direction of the company.

“We are simply suggesting that we press the pause button until the new council can make sure that every one of the new 76 councillors is able to fully briefed on how FuturePlaces works and give FuturePlaces a fresh start and potentially a fresh impetus and make sure that everybody is behind it,” Cllr Slade said.

Cllr Stephen Bartlett, Independent, said: “There is no reason to rush it. We can take a bit more time.”

Conservative council leader Cllr Philip Broadhead said the suggestion to pause was “kicking the can down the road once again”.

Cllr Philip Broadhead

“I think Poole deserves better than a pause,” Cllr Broadhead said.

“It deserves a plan. They want to dither, we want to deliver.”

Christchurch Independents member Andy Martin, who tabled deferring the decision on Christchurch scheme until a meeting in the summer, said: “It is clear to me the residents of Christchurch and quite obviously across the conurbation remain deeply concerned and sceptical about the company and about its lack of transparency and accountability.”

Christchurch Civic Offices site in Bridge Street (Image: FuturePlaces) (Image: FuturePlaces)

Fellow Christchurch Independent councillor Margaret Phipps said money spent on the outline business case did not include a flood risk assessment. Cllr Bartlett said it was “absurd” to move to a full business case without this issue being addressed.

Cllr Broadhead said FuturePlaces had done a lot of work on the flood risk related to the site.