PEOPLE welcomed plans to reopen and refurbish flats above a historic shopping arcade.

FJB Collections has unveiled ideas for 37 properties at the Royal Arcade in Boscombe, which is home to many alterative shops.

Bournemouth council hopes they will attract creative and young professionals to help the area’s regeneration.

The designs went on public exhibition inside the arcade over the weekend.

“It’s a beautiful building and at last they are doing something with the space,” said Boscombe resident Diana Scivier, 61, an accountant.

Phil Moreland, 54, from Traditional Locksmiths, said: “It’s a good idea and I can’t see any problems with it. I am for it as part of the regeneration.”

All the flats would be rentals.

There would three one-bedroom apartments, six two-bedroom apartments, two three-bedroom apartments, one one-bedroom duplex (split over two floors), and 25 two-bedroom duplexes.

The Royal Arcade was completed in 1892 and is owned by John Butterworth, who also owns Boscombe’s Chine Hotel and the O2 Academy.

The Arcade is a Grade II listed building and all the existing Victorian windows and doors would remain.

Resident Marcin Sawarski, 31, a warehouse driver from Boscombe, said: “I wouldn’t mind having one of these flats, but it would depend on the price and whether there would be noise from the O2.”

The council thinks the plans fit in with its attempts to create a “sustainable community” in Boscombe – it thinks the transient population contributes to the crime rates and poverty.

Mike Darby, housing enablement officer, said: “The last people probably left these flats in the late 1980s.

“As a council we are really keen to work with anyone looking to invest in Boscombe.”

FJB and Oates Construction are working on submitting a planning application, with the completion of work predicted in 2013.