A BATTLE to save one of Pokesdown's 'heritage assets' is under way.

A fresh bid has been launched to demolish the 1920s warehouse at 3 Wickham Road, after a previous planning application was rejected in June.

Back then, developer European Emerging Markets Ltd claimed the building was unlikely to attract business usage and proposed to build a block of 10 flats in its place, however Bournemouth's planning board argued it was of historical value and should be retained.

The block of flats proposed was described as an "outrage" to architecture by the town's Civic Society.

Now, the company has submitted a new application calling on the board to recognise that under permitted development rights it can demolish the building without planning permission.

The application states that the building is "in a poor state of repair and is not worthy of retention" and is neither listed nor in a conservation area. It concludes that approval for demolition is not required.

The building is listed as a heritage asset in the Boscombe and Pokesdown Neighbourhood Plan, which has yet to formally come into force, and now members of the Pokesdown Community Forum and also the Civic Society are trying to get the council to issue an 'Article 4 direction' blocking the demolition.

Neighbourhood Plan working group member Pam Ruthvan said: "Once demolished there will be an application for a block of flats similar to the previous block.

"The only way to prevent this from happening is by an immediate Article 4 direction, which would remove the permitted development rights and require a full planning application.

"This is a perfectly acceptable way of protecting non-designated heritage assets outside conservation areas under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act and is used by other planning authorities in other areas to do so."

Last week, Ms Ruthvan said residents were having difficulty contacting the planning department.

"Several letters have been sent to planning officers and councillors, none have replied, and this is a demonstration of the problem. I checked with planning this morning and was told almost all were away."

On Thursday, a council spokesman said the case officer for the scheme "isn’t in until next week".

European Emerging Markets Ltd has also submitted an application to convert the existing building into nine flats.

This application states: "This development is converting the existing building, thus retaining the non-designated heritage asset and enhancing the appearance of the area."