LONG-held hopes for a Bournemouth ice rink have been dashed after the council failed to find a developer willing to take the scheme on.

The tendering process for developers interesting in operating an Olympic-sized rink at Kings Park ended on Wednesday without generating a single bid.

The council said it would now put the plans on hold until the state of the economy improved and they could go back out to the market.

Bournemouth has been without a full-sized ice rink since the one in Westover Road shut down in January 1991.

In a bid to encourage developers, the council was willing to give the Kings Park site to a company prepared to build and operate an ice rink.

The council also secured planning permission for the site at a cost of almost £70,000.

Independent Cllr Ron Whittaker, who has spent years campaigning for an ice rink, said: “I’m devastated but not surprised.

“The procurement process, which the council has to follow, made developers go through too many hoops.

“People will be very upset about this.”

Cllr John Beesley, council leader, said: “I am ext-remely disappointed by the lack of interest in the market to provide an ice stadium in Bournemouth.

“We have done everything we can and have led from the start to bring this development forward for both Bournemouth residents and visitors.

“However, we have been advised that commercial funding for leisure schemes such as an ice stadium is unlikely to come forward from the private sector at this time due to the leisure development market being severely depressed across the whole of the UK.

“We know that the Kings Park ice stadium proposal is strongly supported by the public and so we are very disappointed that, despite our best efforts, no developers have come forward with a financially viable scheme.

“The work done so far on this scheme has not been wasted.

“When the time is right and the economic situation improves, Bourne-mouth is ready and we will look to go back out to the market again.”