Weymouth Superbowl site could become another temporary car park
Dorset Council is to make a decision on the idea this week
Dorset Council is planning to build another temporary car park in Weymouth.
After agreeing one on the site of the now demolished former borough council offices at North Quay, it now wants to create another on the Lakeside Superbowl site off St Nicholas Street.
In both cases, the authority wants to earn some income from the land while development plans for the sites are finalised.
Both are likely to eventually be set aside mainly for housing, potentially with a relatively small number of commercial units at ground floor level, although both decisions could be several year from fruition.
A decision on the 18-lane Lakeside bowling site is expected to be made at an area planning committee in Dorchester on Thursday (18th April).
Planning officers are recommending the demolition and temporary car park plans be approved – the application only coming before councillors in public because the site is owned by the council.
A case officer report suggests that the Superbowl building, previously the Texas Store, is: “unprovoking… a fairly uninspiring example of modern architecture, largely devoid of detailing or architectural interest,” although it is situated within the Weymouth Conservation Area.
The planning application says that 57 new parking spaces, including four disabled parking bays, could be created once the building is demolished bringing the total spaces on the St Nicholas Street site to 149.
Said a report to Thursday’s planning committee:
“The provision of a car park is proposed as an interim step ahead of formalising plans to redevelop the site. The use of land as a car park is consequently sought for a temporary period only. In terms of the wider vision for the site, the Council went out to public consultation in 2021 on a mixed-use scheme of retail and commercial units at ground floor, and residential accommodation in the form of 59 flats on the upper floors.
"Following consultation, the Council are yet to formalise their plans for the site, and these plans do not form part of the application under consideration, but offers some context to the application submitted for the site for the demolition of the building and use of the site for parking.”