NEW family homes that are anticipated to contribute to the regeneration of Bournemouth town centre been given the thumbs up by the council. 

Poole-based developer AJC Group has won the approval of BCP Council’s planning department to build several homes at the back of Lansdowne House in Christchurch Road. 

The development would see the demolition of the former bingo hall in Christchurch Road which has been vacant since 2020. 

AJC Group said it would build 32 energy-efficient two and three-bedroom family homes and a four-storey apartment block comprising eight one-bedders on the land. 

BCP planning officer Senjuti Manna, who awarded the planning permission, said that AJC Group must provide £71k of contributions towards heathland mitigation, affordable housing and road improvements. 

She said: “The proposal would result in harm and would be contrary to certain policies of the current development plan for the area.  

“However, the benefit of additional 40 houses within a highly sustainable location outweighs the harm while applying the tilted balance.” 

Bingo hall in Christchurch RoadBingo hall in Christchurch Road

She said that while the development would result in a loss of “an important section of a locally important building” in the bingo hall, the benefits of new homes outweigh this. 

The officer added: “The proposal is considered acceptable that would not warrant a refusal on poor design grounds, especially when latest housing supply position within the BCP Council area is 1.6 years with a 20 per cent buffer (a shortfall of 8,078 homes) and the Housing Delivery Test shows 73 per cent across the BCP area.” 

The plans also include 26 car parking spaces and 78 cycle parking spaces. Half of the car parking spaces will be fitted with EV charging points with the remainder equipped for future adaptation. 

Simon McFarlane, planning director at AJC Group, said that the homes will provide families with close connections to the town centre while also enhancing” the appearance of the area. 

The homes will not be considered affordable homes, with Ms Manna saying that AJC Group submitted a financial viability assessment to “demonstrate lack of viability to provide policy compliant level of affordable housing. 

She added: “This report was reviewed by Valuation Office Agency who concluded that the development would generate a residual land value higher than the benchmark land value and can support a surplus contribution of £24,360 towards affordable housing.”