COUNCIL chiefs have approved the idea of building flats on a Bournemouth town centre car park and tasked officers with working up two different designs.

The Durley Road car park is the latest site earmarked for development under the council’s 20-year Town Centre Master Vision.

At their meeting last week, cabinet members agreed that the Bournemouth Development Company should build between 50 and 80 flats on the site.

This could be in either a five storey building of around 65 flats or a 14-storey high-rise development of around 75 flats.

All 112 public car parking spaces currently provided at the car park would be lost but these will be replaced on other town centre sites.

Town centre vision programme leader Martin Tiffin said in his report to cabinet members the aim was to provide a “landmark” development to raise standards in the town.

“Development of the Durley Road site is an opportunity to deliver a landmark scheme which promotes best in class architecture at this very important gateway to the town,” he said.

“The strategic significance of creating a well recognised building of high architectural merit on the western edge of the town centre, with its close proximity to the beach is key to demonstrating to the development community and to other potential investors that Bournemouth is leading from the front and raising the standard of architecture and building quality.”

The Bournemouth Development Company is currently completing a similar development at Leyton Mount, where 34 of the 64 flats have already been sold or reserved.

A planning application is now set to be submitted next summer, with the hope of work starting in early 2016 and the first residents moving in by 2017.