Consultation Tracker

Bournemouth Town Centre Area Action Plan: Detailed Options Consultation

Bournemouth Borough Council Start Date: Monday 25 January 2010
End Date: Monday 8 March 2010
Area (Wards): Bournemouth Wide
Method: Consultation Document • Display/Exhibition • Leaflet • Presentation • Public Meeting
Service Area: Culture (libraries, museums, theatres, history) • Education & Childcare • Environment & Pollution • Housing • Leisure, sport, parks & open spaces • Planning • Roads, Travel and Transport • Seafront • Tourism
Status: Past Past
Organisation: Bournemouth Borough Council
Contact Name: Urban Renewal & Design Team
Contact Phone: 01202 451358
Contact Email: urbandesign@bournemouth.gov.uk

About this Consultation

The Bournemouth Town Centre Area Action Plan will set out the planning policies for future development and regeneration of the town centre. The Detailed Options consultation is one of the early stages in preparation of the document, and aims to gain opinions from the public as to which direction the future of the town centre should go in, by choosing from options under a variety of topics such as homes and community, economy, environment and place and transport and movement. It follows on from a broader ‘Issues and Options’ consultation in April 2009.

Community involvement is also an essential part of the preparation of planning policy documents in order for them to be considered ‘sound’ at the Inquiry stage leading to final adoption.

The Area Action Plan, as a planning document, must take into account a number of things which have already been agreed elsewhere by Government, Regional planning or other strategies (for example the number of new homes that need to be built across the borough). Another ‘given’ is the fact that the town centre should be the focal point for the borough in terms of employment (including offices), retail, cultural, tourism and higher education facilities and should provide high density residential development, but it is to be decided how we do this.

As it is an early stage of the Development Plan Document preparation the consultation aims to seek opinions from the public as to what the options are that should go forward as the Council’s ‘Preferred Options’ at the next stage. Therefore only a limited amount has yet been decided. Topics where there is only one option still invite comment, and topics where there is no option (for example where the decision is made at a higher level) are explained why.

The consultation is closely related to a consultation on the Town Centre Master Vision in 2008, but this only covered the area in the immediate vicinity of the Square and Lower Gardens and did not cover the much wider area of the Area Action Plan.

Similarly the ‘Issues and Options’ consultation of April 2009 was a broader document without any precise options, although opinions on some topics have been useful in formulating this document and will still be valid in the formation of the preferred options.

This detailed consultation is also essential as part of a formal process towards adoption of the Development Plan Document.

The Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004 outlines a list of statutory bodies that the Council must consult in preparation of Development Plan Documents, plus any other consultation bodies who are considered appropriate at the discretion of the Local Planning Authority. These include a wide range of groups, including Bournemouth 2026 partners, as well as those who have expressed an interest in being involved. A database of consultees already exists as the work is connected to the Local Development Framework.

As well as direct consultation with these stakeholders, groups and individuals, the Council also aims to engage with as many members of the public as possible including those who were consulted and/or responded at the Issues and Options stage.

The following activities were undertaken:
• Press Release
• Email and Postal contact to statutory consultees, and those on the Local Development Framework Consultation Database (over 400 bodies, businesses and individuals)
• Presentation event/seminar to Bournemouth 2026 partners
• Presentation Events with Old People Strategy Group, Youth Council and DOTS Disability
• Notification email/letter to Bournemouth 2026 partners and news item on website
• Postal contact to random sample of Bournemouth residents and businesses (4,500) (60% town centre, 40% outside town centre)
• Hard copies of the document to every Bournemouth Library for reference, together with flyers, posters and response booklets
• Public Drop In sessions in Town Centre Library
• Hard copies of the document to the Bournemouth Area Forums
• Bournemouth Website news article
• Bill Board display/Advert by Winter Gardens site (not yet confirmed as definite)

Through the wide range of methods used, including postal contact, face to face contact and use of local media the aim was to raise awareness and engage as many members of the public and local businesses as possible.

To find out more visit www.towncentrevision.co.uk

Results

The Planning and Transport Department consulted with disabled people on some of the proposals in the Detailed Options Document that they felt were particularly relevant to disabled people and the issues they face. A consultation event was held with DOTS Disability on 12th February 2010. Click here to read the full DOTS report.

pdf DOTS Town Centre Report (.pdf) (90 KB)

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Permalink: http://www.bournemouth2026.org.uk/detailedoptions

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