PLANS have been submitted to demolish all of Bournemouth’s former ABC cinema except the frontage and build a block of 62 flats with shopping and parking.

But developer Libra Homes has offered up the possibility that the cinema’s original 1930s facade could be restored, if it still exists under cladding added in later decades.

The ABC closed in January, almost 80 years after it opened as Westover Super Cinema, as parent company Odeon prepared to open its new multiplex at BH2.

Libra Homes had bought both the ABC and nearby Odeon for a total of £6.15million.

Its planning application shows a building with six storeys as well as two basement levels.

It argues there is “no reasonable prospect” of the cinema continuing as a cultural asset.

A statement supporting the application says: “The ABC cinema has closed, with the business relocated to the Exeter Road leisure development scheme, where the cinema facility has been enhanced through the modern 10-screen complex operated by the parent company, Odeon.”

It adds: “It is a condition, by way of a legal covenant by Odeon, that there will be no re-use of the existing site by a cinema operator.”

Libra has seen two planning applications for the nearby Odeon site rejected. The larger one would have involved a 14-storey building .

But the developer argues that its scheme for the ABC site would replace “stark brick elevations” at the Hinton Road end of the site with a more “human and user-friendly” appearance. It says the Westover Road frontage could be restored.

The planning statement says: “In respect of the Westover Road frontage, if there is an original façade behind the existing cladding, then it presents an excellent opportunity to restore it and incorporate it within the proposed development.”

It adds: “If it is possible to maintain and restore a 1930s facade, then it will complement the other buildings and structures of that era, in particular the Pavilion.”

Bournemouth Civic Society, which objected to the Odeon plans, said it would study the ABC plans carefully.