BOURNEMOUTH council staff should be moved to the Littledown area and the Town Hall turned back into a hotel.

That’s the view of the town’s biggest landlord Dave Wells, who believes the current ‘antiquated old building’ in the centre of town would be put to better use as a top-end hotel.

He said the council should dip into its reserves to fund a ‘fit-for-purpose’ town hall on council-owned land in Littledown with car parking and easy access to and from the town centre.

“It would be within easy walking distance of residential properties for employees living locally, immediate access to the hospital, law courts, hotels for out-of-town overnight visitors,” he said.

“We could then convert the old town hall back to the Mont Dore Hotel as it used to be. This could be a five star-plus hotel with underground parking complemented with the additional facility of the golf course close by.

“The hotel itself would be south-facing overlooking the Lower Gardens making the location very attractive and appealing to the better class of holiday visitors and bringing this part of the town alive once more.”

He said he hoped to open up a debate on the subject and urged anyone who agreed with him to contact their local councillors.

Bournemouth council leader John Beesley, said: “I would be very interested to receive a costed proposal from Mr Wells to support his ideas. However, I am not convinced that there would be enough council-owned space available at the Littledown site to accommodate the Town Hall.

“Our office accommodation strategy has ensured that we continue to make the most efficient use of our office space through the disposal of other sites, most of which were leasehold. Even if such a scheme were affordable there would be significant planning issues to overcome and I doubt that Castle Lane residents would thank us for increasing travel congestion through the area.”