The long-awaited Shelley Manor development will finally get under way next week, relieved residents have been told.

Addressing a Boscombe Forum meeting, former councillor Harry Cutler revealed that a site manager had been appointed and work would get under way on Monday.

He added: "I spoke to the developer this afternoon. He assures me that a site manager is in place from next Monday. There will be an official launch on Tuesday."

Poole-based medical developer Charles Higgins Primary Care Limited was sent back to the drawing board after the initials designs were deemed to be overbearing and unsympathetic. But new plans for the historic building, with links to Frankenstein author Mary Shelly, won backing from civic and community leaders. They include the restoration of the grade two listed theatre and the creation of a medical centre. The modern extensions will be demolished and a five-storey block of 10 flats with basement parking, will be built in its place. A further four flats will be erected above the medical centre and there will also be a café.

Welcoming news that the scheme to give derelict Shelley Manor a new lease of life was finally going ahead, ward councillor Phil Stanley-Watts said: "This facility is definitely needed in Boscombe and I wish the developer all the best."

Pat Clark, chairperson of the Friends of Shelley Manor, said: "It's brilliant news; I'm sorry that residents have had to wait so long for the scheme to get underway but there were unavoidable delays.

"I think everyone will agree that it is a much better scheme than the 70-odd flats that were originally planned and the loss of our historic theatre."