RESIDENTS opposing plans by Richard Carr to build a block of 50 flats are crying foul after Bournemouth council initially issued a refusal notice and then took it back.

As previously reported, a Town Hall blunder led to the businessman receiving a letter saying his plans for The Green, in Branksome Hill Road, had been rejected.

Mr Carr, who is working for developer Fortitudo Ltd, was asked to return the decision notice because the council was still taking legal advice over the application.

Residents Steve and Sarah James, who are among 177 objectors to the plan, pointed out the refusal was published on the council’s website and then taken down.

In an email to one of their ward councillors, they wrote: “You can imagine, we were extremely pleased with the decision to reject the application recorded and published on the council website.”

They went on: “Our question is a simple one. How can a published and therefore finalised decision be removed from your website without trace? How is that transparent?

“Do you have the power to remove a published decision and I assume therefore potentially reverse it?

“Please explain the legal basis of your actions and whether there is now the potential for the rejection decision to be withdrawn or deferred to the planning board. The decision published is a matter of public record... How is this fair and due process?”

They said neighbours were keen to voice their “extreme frustration and concern”.

Mr Carr had called in lawyers after being told council officers were minded to refuse his application.

The council argued that its planning officers were entitled to reject the scheme without putting it before councillors on the planning board, because it was against planning policy.

But Mr Carr and his legal counsel interpreted the council’s constitution differently. They said the application should have been referred to the planning board because it had been “red carded” by a ward councillor who was against the scheme.

Mr Carr told the Daily Echo earlier: "I’m not suggesting for one minute I’ll get it through committee but I want the democratic right for the committee to hear it.”

Bournemouth council has not commented other than to say it is taking legal advice of its own.