Consultation Tracker

Bournemouth Town Centre Area Action Plan Preferred Option Consultation

Bournemouth Borough Council Start Date: Monday 8 November 2010
End Date: Friday 7 January 2011
Areas: Central Bournemouth
Method: Consultation Document • Display/Exhibition • Email survey • Feedback form • Forum meetings • Postal Survey • Presentation
Service Area: Culture (libraries, museums, theatres, history) • Housing • Leisure, sport, parks & open spaces • Planning and Economic Development • Roads, Travel and Transport • 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 Preferred Option consultation is one of the later stages in preparation of the document, and aims to gain opinions from the public on our suggested preferred ideas and strategy for the future of the town centre. It follows on from the broader ‘Issues and Options’ consultation in April/May 2009 and the ‘Detailed Options’ consultation from January to March 2010.

The Area Action Plan, as a planning document, must take into account a number of things which have already been agreed elsewhere by Government or other strategies (for example the number of new homes that need to be built across the borough). The Area Action Plan also has to be consistent with the contents of the higher level planning document, the Core Strategy (also called the Bournemouth Plan). 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 this was one of the later stages in the preparation of the document, the responses from the public to our previous consultations were taken into account. Comment was nevertheless invited on all aspects of the 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. In addition to this any other consultation bodies who were considered appropriate. 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 engaged with as many members of the public as possible including those who were consulted and/or responded at the Issues and Options and the Detailed Options stages.

Undertaken were:
• Press Releases to encourage Echo articles before and throughout the consultation period
• 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
• Notification email/letter to Bournemouth 2026 partners and news item on their 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 forms
• Public display/exhibition and drop In sessions in Town Centre Library
• Hard copies of the document to the Bournemouth Area Forums
• Bournemouth and town centre vision websites
• Article in BH Life (to all Bournemouth Borough residents)
• Encourage article(s) in local business magazine
• Make presentations to interested groups if they would like it e.g Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce
• Communications team to pick up other media coverage i.e facebook and twitter

To find out more about the Town Centre Vision click here.