DEVELOPERS who saw their plans for a town centre hotel and apartments hit by the recession insist they are still committed to building in Bournemouth.

Grosvenor Developments secured planning permission for a £50million Richmond Gardens scheme in 2009 but have not yet started building work.

Now they are applying to extend their planning permission and insist the ambitious scheme is still viable.

The proposals for a 173-bedroom hotel, 120 flats and a seven-storey office block wrapped around the existing Richmond Gardens multi-storey car park are unchanged, although developers say they may have to renegotiate over how much affordable housing is included.

Edward Skeates, project director for Grosvenor Developments, said: “Obviously it hasn’t happened in the timescale that we hoped, it has been hit by the recession and the availability of finance.

“But we are confident finance is going to start to come back in the next year or so and that’s why we want to extend the planning approval to give it a chance, to see it built out.

“We’re still committed to the project, we still this there’s life in it.”

He added the scheme had previously been well received and there was no indication this had changed.

“Richmond Gardens is a bit of an unloved area,” he said. “This is quite a striking scheme and architecturally it was given a pretty strong endorsement. Most people were pretty positive about it.”

The plans would also see a new deck added to the top of the existing car park and underground car parking provided for the flats. Grosvenor’s request to extend the time limit will be considered shortly.