POOLE'S ruling cabinet has recommended council members back a number of key decisions to enable an ambitious £132 million town centre scheme to move forward.

The Town Centre North initiative, the largest project of its kind in the history of the borough, could eventually see a new bus station, more than 400 homes, modern commercial office buildings, a hotel, leisure centre, and a new public realm being built in the area between Poole Park and the Dolphin Shopping Centre.

Borough of Poole (BOP) cabinet members voted unanimously, on Tuesday (April 17), to rubber-stamp a raft of decisions - which will now be debated and voted on by full council next week.

BOP leader Cllr Janet Walton said: "This is a significant step forward, things are really getting exciting now. Lets keep up the momentum."

The decisions backed by cabinet included:

  • Moving forward to procure a 'development partner'.

  • Agree the Town Centre North scheme is launched to the market, and that public consultation is held.

  • Approve a budget of up to £1.4m from existing council reserves to progress the regeneration scheme. And approve the allocation of up to £1.5m from the Corporate Capital Contingency.

  • Approve potential capital receipts from Beach Road Car Park and Constitution Hill Road land sales are earmarked to fund the regeneration scheme.

  • Approve that the Dolphin Swimming Poole site, and the sites north and south of Seldown Car Park are earmarked for the development.

Cllr Mohan Iyengar, cabinet member for economy, culture and learning, said: "I think it is notable that anything to do with the town centre, in my experience, is the number of stakeholders involved. Sometimes it appears that just to move something forward just a little bit, it requires considerable effort. So I think it is a real achievement getting to this stage, and there is no turning back from this point - we have to see this through."

Meanwhile, planning, regeneration and transportation cabinet member Cllr Ian Potter said: "The project has been ongoing for some time now. The preferred masterplan and consequentially the financial implications are likely to change quite a lot during the process of getting to a planning application.

"I support these recommendations and hope my colleagues will as well."

A report to cabinet, from the borough's strategic director Kate Ryan, explained how the scheme provided an opportunity to transform the northern part of the town centre and "deliver, economic, social and community benefits."

Ms Ryan added: "It is a complex regeneration scheme of a larger scale that the Borough of Poole has delivered to date, with an estimated Gross Development Value of £132m."

Members of BOP will vote on the recommendations at the next full council meeting on Tuesday, April 24.