Poole Civic Centre could became a hotel and housing
It's one of the plans being put forward to find new uses for former council buildings in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Concerns have been raised over plans to find new uses for several former council buildings in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
Among the ideas being worked on are converting the Poole Civic Centre to a hotel and housing, with a similar proposal for the former Christchurch Borough Council offices.
One of two adjoining central Poole car parks is being proposed for housing with commercial units, with a site at Constitution Hill earmarked for housing – including the conversion of some existing buildings once used by Bournemouth and Poole College.
During a lengthy overview and scrutiny committee debate calls were made to stop any further spending on the Christchurch site until a flood plan could be evaluated.
There was also a plea for the Poole Chapel Lane car park development to be carried out by the private sector, rather than the BCP council.
The current proposals is for 27 apartments and 7 commercial units which could range from shops to a gym, cafes, facilities for children or even light industrial.
Cllr Steve Bartlett said he did not want to see the authority taking any more financial risk and would prefer to see the private sector carry out the development, if it were to go ahead.
Deputy council leader Phil Broadhead defended all the projects saying that the council was likely to retain ownership of most of the sites, collecting rental income for years to come, while at the same time offering new homes and revitalising the areas.
All of the projects will go before Cabinet meetings in February and March for a decision on whether or not they should continue beyond the outline business case stage.
Cllr Broadhead said that commercial sensitivity meant that, at this stage, the details of the plans could not be made public, but said they would be at the right time, if any were given the go ahead to reach the position where development was likely.
All of the projects are being worked on by the council’s arms-length Future Places team, although the Constitution Hill project, if it goes ahead, will probably come under the council’s housing department.
That scheme involves converting some of the better buildings on the site, saving the chapel, and using surrounding land to build new properties  – bringing around a hundred extra homes to the area.
It and the Poole Civic Centre plans were the only projects which received qualified support during the meeting, although several made a plea for space to be found for the office of Poole’s Mayor and the Coroner’s office within the former Poole council building.
Councillors were told that there had been strong interest from national hotel chains in the Poole site using the core of the building, with the ‘arms’ being converted to housing and, possibly, retaining some space for civic uses.