The Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee are asked to consider the draft Project Outline Case for Poole Quay. Please note that further development and funding solutions for this item will be brought forward in a future report. The Committee are asked to consider this item for information at this stage.
The Committee is asked to scrutinise and comment on the report and if required to make recommendations or observations as appropriate.
Cabinet members invited to attend for this item: Councillor P Broadhead, Portfolio Holder for Development, Growth and Regeneration.
(This document is attached as a separate supplement due to its size)
Minutes:
The Portfolio Holder for Development, Growth and Regeneration presented a report a copy of which was circulated to Committee members and a copy of which appears as Appendix ‘E’ to these minutes in the minute book. The Chief Executive of FuturePlaces explained that this was a large public realm space and designers had produced two separate options for future development. The first option was a fully shared space with distinctive road kerbs and markings removed. The second option would retain a carriageway and incorporate distinctive spaces for all different types of vehicles. The proposal would be to take this through to a public consultation. In the following discussion the Committee raised a number of issues which were responded to by the Portfolio Holder and Officers including:
A member welcomed what had been done and commented that in terms of shared space and removing kerbs, this generally didn’t seem to work well with traffic, and they would favour shared space but excluding traffic.
A comment was made that the area needed a major uplift; the lanes led into an area where nothing was done.
It was hoped that work would continue on schemes in this area of Poole. The area behind the quay needed a lot of work. Further work on this area would look to explore the linkage between the quay and the high street area.
A Member commented on a new development behind a pub, that if the buildings had been knocked down it could have created an open green space, which would have been amazing and consequently suggested that the area should be considered as a whole rather than one planning application at a time.
It was noted that it had been a struggle to get something in place on this site and it had been difficult to reach any kind of consensus on how it should be developed.
The Committee discussed whether a masterplan for the area was appropriate or whether a more light touch overview for the area would be more appropriate and would be more likely to move forward action in the area.
A view was expressed that one of the most important elements in the area was resurfacing as this was not in a good condition.
Members supported the views within the paper going out to wider consultation to gain further views on aspirations for the area.
Funding options for moving this forward to an outline business case was discussed
Comments were made that some of the ideas outlined were great, but it was questioned whether it was the right economic climate to move it forward.
Suggestions were made that there should be a focus on drawing different parts of the town together and ensuing good links between areas.
The Portfolio Holder outlined that this was different to the others as a project outline case and there were a number of options to consider. The Chairman thanked everyone for their contributions to this item.
The Committee adjourned at 10.04pm and resumed in non-public session at 10:07pm.
Supporting documents: