A JANUARY date has been set for a public meeting on Poole Town’s controversial £1 million redevelop-ment plans for Branksome Rec.

The meeting will take place at the Lighthouse on Friday, January 23 at 7pm, with everyone invited to attend.

It will take the form of presentations from both the football club and opponents of the scheme, with questions allowed from the floor.

Depending on the tone of the meeting and residents’ reaction, the club may be ready to submit a planning application for their new ground and associated facilities in the spring.

Cllr Peter Adams, the Borough of Poole’s cabinet portfolio holder for leisure, stressed there would be no decisions made at the meeting.

He said: “It is a meeting to get people’s feedback and explain clearly what the latest proposals are.”

With some already comparing the rec proposals to the doomed Solar Pyramid plans, the meeting is likely to prove pivotal in deciding the scheme’s fate.

More than 200 residents savaged the Solar Pyramid plans at a similar forum at the Lighthouse a year ago, leading to the scheme being ignominiously dropped weeks later.

Cllr Adams said the meeting was being held centrally as the scheme was a “borough-wide” one and “important to the whole town”.

Protestors cite the loss of open space and potential traffic and crowd problems as their main fears over the plans, while Poole Town are passionately talking up the potential community benefits.