BOURNEMOUTH council is to restart the procurement process for its BIC hotel plan after a legal challenge was launched by local businesses.

In a press statement sent at 6pm this evening the borough said a motion to reopen the procurement process to bidders would be discussed at tomorrow's cabinet meeting, at 10.30am.

Dismissing the bid for a judicial review of the project by Peel Hotels and Bespoke Hotels as “simplistic”, “vague” and “nothing more than a scare tactic”, the council has nevertheless conceded that the change of heart follows criticism of the bidding process made in the challenge.

Cabinet member for economic growth Councillor Philip Broadhead said: “We stand wholeheartedly by the proposed model for the hotel development – the funding approach, site location and demand forecasts. On that basis, we fully expect to proceed with the development.

“However, the argument made that the ‘rollback’ part of the procurement stopped other interested parties from bidding on the project has led to cabinet being asked to reopen the procurement process, so enabling other bidders to come forward.”

The source of the change of heart is not stated, however the borough has been consulting its legal advisors about the challenge.

Cllr Broadhead said the council needed to focus resources on local government reorganisation rather than “distractions such as this”, and wants the new procurement process to “commence quickly”.

“I must stress, the recommendation to cabinet is in no way a reflection on the quality of the bid being advanced and in fact just this past week, significant progress has been made on reaching a position that would have satisfied the council’s previously agreed requirements.”

Bournemouth council’s statement claims “a careful process of procurement and decision-making has been followed” and “we are satisfied that the decisions made so far would be found by a court to be lawful”.

It states: “In fact, we consider the threat of judicial review nothing more than a scare tactic constructed as an attack on the decision-making process, via a large number of spurious grounds, aimed solely at disrupting the project. Analysis within the claim is simplistic, with vague and unsubstantiated arguments throughout.

“We remain confident that the funding model is robust and represents the right approach. Industry-backed projections demonstrate the investment will achieve financial return over its course, as well as raising the profile of Bournemouth as an international conference destination and thereby achieving additional benefits to the town’s economy. Therefore, the council is satisfied that the financial model behind the development of the hotel is robust and that taxpayers’ money is not unreasonably being placed at risk.”