THE council has once again come under fire for its handling of Bournemouth town centre after it was revealed The Ivy had pulled out.
Opposition leader Phil Broadhead accused BCP Council’s administration of “not caring” about the town, saying it has “simply given up”.
As well as the Ivy news, since Christmas it has been revealed that six million fewer visits were made to town centre Christmas displays compared to 2023, and GIANT art gallery announced it was leaving before its founder asked, “why anybody would invest here?”.
Many were left dismayed by the Ivy news but BCP Council leader Vikki Slade took to social media to write only that she "heard it was cancelled ages ago".
Cllr Broadhead said: “It seems the new administration simply doesn’t care about the town.
“At last year’s budget, all the other parties voted against my high street renewal fund, and in the last week they’ve announced plans to create an unnecessary new planning committee at a cost of £100,000, including new allowances; money which could have been invested here. They’ve simply given up on Bournemouth.”
He added: “A number of us worked hard over an extended period to encourage The Ivy and others to choose Bournemouth to invest in.
“The extra funds we’d put into town centre security, cleansing and events was all about helping to reimagine our high streets for the future.
“If true, this decision by The Ivy to change their minds due to the deterioration of the town centre is, quite frankly, a travesty - and entirely avoidable. All the hard work to support them to invest here is being thrown away.”
Last November, BCP Council held a town centre summit where all the people who can bring change got together to discuss the next steps to renew Bournemouth town centre.
So far, no plans for the next steps have been announced.
Property developer Richard Carr, chief executive of Fortitudo and the man behind a number of large projects in the town centre, said “change has got to happen now”.
He said: “It’s a further indictment unfortunately on the current administration in not re-planning the town centre.
“There needs to be a reduction in retail space of 50 per cent, in my opinion, and until someone is politically willing to grasp the fact that there is an oversupply of retail space in Bournemouth town centre, this is the continuing decline and decay.
- “We in this town have already experienced this before, this is just history repeating itself: it’s called Boscombe.
“From the late 1970s to early 1980s, Boscombe fell into decay and this is exactly what is happening in Bournemouth town centre.”
Mr Carr, who was at the town centre summit, added The Ivy pulling out is not what he wanted to hear.
Read more: Bournemouth town centre summit an 'encouraging start'
“This is a further example and an example from someone out of town, a substantial company with restaurants across the country, who have basically told us exactly what most of us know: change has got to happen.
“Hopefully this is a wake-up call for all of those who hold the power.
“I’m developing substantial properties for people to buy second homes. This is exactly the sort of news I do not want to see, because it stops people wanting to live here.
“Instead of imposing 20mph speed limits on us, perhaps they should smell the coffee and look at the real problems because it is in terminal decline.”
Kris Gumbrell, the Bournemouth-based chief executive of Brewhouse & Kitchen, said the hospitality sector is not around to rescue the town centre and that it needs the council to pull its weight.
He said: "I operate a national business, we go from Chester to Cardiff to London and I know a lot of CEOs of national restaurant groups, and our image is not great down here.
"But it defies logic when you look at the natural setting, the type of town we have, a university town, we have so much in our favour so why are we in this mess?
"It's a lack of planning but also a lack of wanting to understand and realise what the real issues are that are facing the town."
BCP Council has been approached for a response but had not responded at the time the Echo went to press.
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