PLANS to build the UK’s first coastal activity park at Boscombe beach have been given the thumbs-up by councillors.

The £3.3million attraction aims to cater for everyone from elite athletes to beach tourists and will operate all year round.

It will allow residents and visitors to try a variety of sports and activities, including leisure snorkelling, a try-dive facility, an open water canoe programme, outdoor public gym, climbing wall, beach volleyball courts and an arts and music trail.

Cllr Rod Cooper, the cabinet member for tourism, said: “I think it’s going to be fantastic for Boscombe beach, for Bournemouth in general and for tourism.

“It’s just simply going to be wonderful and I’m extremely excited about it.”

On Wednesday, cabinet members agreed to allocate funding of £428,000 towards the project. This money is a mixture of capital receipts and reallocated capital receipts from the Boscombe Spa Project. An additional £313,000 will come from revenue funding and the Coastal Community Funding.

The project is expected to create 165 full-time jobs and 107 volunteer training opportunities for young unemployed people in Boscombe.

The Costal Activity Park will also enable the establishment of a commercially operated dive school based in the Overstrand building, along with a number of beach sport related shops, which will create at least another five full-time jobs.

The council’s business case for the project also states that it will make best use of the existing artificial surf reef, without the council having to spend any more money on it.