A new multi-million pound planning application has been submitted for land at the heart of Poole’s regeneration.

The 32-acre former power station site at Hamworthy is where the town’s new Twin Sails Bridge lands and is the borough’s largest regeneration site.

Landowners Gallagher Estates and Lands Improvement Holdings have put in a new planning application to cover the entire site, which has been vacant since the power station was demolished in 1998.

They bought the site in 2002 and have committed more than £5million for local community infrastructure and completed the Rigler Road link between Blandford Road and the bridge. It proposes five different character areas for the brownfield site and comes after a second public exhibition where residents gave it wide public support. The proposal is for 1,350 homes as well as cafés and restaurants along the quayside, a supermarket, public spaces and play areas and a Holes Bay coastal pathway.

And the applicant says the outline plans confirm the scheme’s architecture will respect the character and history of Poole. It would be developed over eight to 10 years.

“We want to create a scheme that the whole of Poole can both enjoy and be proud of – a credit to the town,” said Henry Richards, managing director of Lands Improvement Holdings.

“It is important to us that the scheme compliments the townscape, architecture and waterfront setting.”

The application has been submitted five months after the joint venture’s second public exhibition in October last year where feedback from residents was positive.

“We were delighted by the local community’s response to our proposals and after further engagement with the Borough of Poole and key statutory groups, we have amended our application to further meet Poole’s needs and aspirations,” said Mr Richards.

“Our application is the culmination and result of around 10 years of engagement with the local community.”

David Carden, managing director of Gallagher Estates thanked everyone who attended the public exhibitions and helped shape the application. “This application is the product of a collaborative effort,” he said.

Residents will like supermarket

FRED Winwood, chairman of Hamside Residents Association, pictured, said: “What’s being put on the table at the moment is much better than the one we started off with, but there’s room for improvement.

“The inclusion of a supermarket was not part of the council’s core strategy. I think that will be very popular with the people of Hamworthy and not very popular with the council,” he said.

Residents would also be “delighted” with the waterside footpath which would link up with others, providing a route alongside Holes Bay, he said.

“To have a circular walk around Holes Bay would be a wonderful thing,” he said but he criticised the amount of open space on the site.

And the number of homes proposed was the total in the core strategy for that site and for the smaller neighbouring Pilkington Tiles land, he said.

The Gallagher plans included a lot of housing and not much business use while Inland Homes Carter’s Quay site was the opposite, and he suggested the developers get together to discuss the issue.