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News from your BCP Ward Cllrs. Margaret Phipps and Vanessa Ricketts
Barrack Road Flats Schemes
At the time of writing we have 3 planning applications for flats along a 400m stretch of Barrack Road: The first, which has come back to us due to a review of the flooding risk, is at the site of the Dragon Palace for 3 blocks of flats totalling 38 units; the second is a revised application for the Grove road roundabout site, which is now a resubmitted proposal for 35 flats and 4 houses; and the third is an application for the Barrack Road Hand Car Wash site on the corner of Beaulieu Road for 34 flats. A total of 111 new dwellings. Combined, all 3 sites will only offer 35 parking spaces. This piecemeal overdevelopment of one of the busiest roads in the conurbation (30,000 vehicle movements a day) causes us great concern and not just for the increase in traffic. The BCP Parking Standards SPD has been adhered to in each submission, but we consider this document to be aspirational, when in reality it is most likely that the majority of dwellings will require parking and this will push even more cars onto the already busy side roads along Barrack Road. None of these applications provide any affordable housing provision and they are all within 5km of a protected European wildlife site (St Catherine’s Hill) and there is a very real cumulative impact on this caused by excessive residential development. For these reasons we will be objecting to these applications.
Vote Of No Confidence in BCP Leadership
At Council on 10th May Councillor Lesley Dedman, of the Christchurch Independents, tabled a motion of no confidence in the current Leader of BCP, Councillor Drew Mellor. The motion cited the poor reputation of the Council, including articles in Local and National press (Daily Mail, Private Eye and the Metro amongst others) regarding accusations of corruption, cronyism and poor performance of the Council. The budget was also called into question due to the selling off of beach huts to facilitate a loan back to the Council to fund the revenue budget – a proposal that has yet to be given government approval. The motion was supported by all opposition groups with many Councillors speaking for the motion of no confidence. However, on the night, the Administration had the majority in the chamber and the motion was defeated.
Future Places
In a previous newsletter, we told you that BCP Council had set up a Company, which it owns, called Future Places to apparently accelerate development and regeneration across the new BCP Council area. Future Places is funded directly from the BCP budget, which is of course paid for by residents’ council tax. They have already been given a total of over £11 million of BCP funds as a working capital loan. Controversially, their Managing Director and two other directors are being paid between £100K and £150K per annum each, and two more company directors are the Leader and Deputy Leader of BCP Council. We have expressed concern that this is a huge gamble with taxpayer’s money and asked how the load will be repaid. This new company will be responsible for bringing forward development across BCP, and initially they have 15 sites earmarked, mostly for residential, one of which is the Christchurch Civic Offices site. The governance of this company was discussed and questions asked, at the BCP Audit and Governance meeting in March, where Margaret is a member of the committee. The recording is available on the BCP website.
Bounce Back Grant for proposed Hurn Lagoon/Water Park
We have been continually asking why a Covid Bounce Back grant of £70,000 was given to the Developers of the proposed Hurn Lagoon. The Lagoon does not exist and therefore was not affected by Covid. As far as we are concerned this is a speculative proposal on green belt land which was not deserving of taxpayers’ money.
Originally the grant application was rejected by the Dorset Growth Hub which assessed applications for the Council, as not meeting the criteria for delivering the project by 31st March 2022. However, BCP Council changed the score to make it eligible for a grant, and Deputy Leader Cllr. Broadhead, when asked, told everyone both at BCP Full Council and at a public Hurn Parish Council meeting, that this was because the developer could deliver a planning application by the due date, rather than the whole project.
Earlier this year we found out that this was not the case, and the £70,000 was actually given for the developer to engage a planning consultant to produce some reports to work towards a planning application. Therefore, all that had to be delivered by 31st March is a few reports and not an application. We consider that this was a waste of Covid grant money, which could have been much better used by companies which were in genuine need of Bounce Back funding, instead of going to a planning consultant to promote this wholly speculative proposal.
Hurn Way Care Home Application
The only update we have on this at the moment, is that following refusal, the applicant has appealed that decision. The Planning Inspectorate No. is APP/V1260/W/21/3280644 (Land at 74 Hurn Way and to the rear of nos.66-72 and 76 Hurn Way, BH23 2PD). It can be viewed on the Inspectorate website. All those who originally commented on the application will be contacted directly by the Inspectorate to ask if they wish to make further comment.
If you wish to contact us about any issues:
Cllr. Margaret Phipps – margaret.phipps@bcpcouncil.gov.uk - Tel: 01202 478266
Cllr. Vanessa Ricketts – vanessa.ricketts@bcpcouncil.gov.uk – Tel: 07760 391467
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