THE decision to hold a consultation on selective licensing in Bournemouth has been upheld by a scrutiny panel.

The policy, if introduced, would see landlords in Boscombe licensed in a bid to tackle poor quality homes and antisocial behaviour - which the council claims are linked.

Councillor Nick Rose had 'called-in' the decision made by the borough cabinet earlier this month. He claimed the decision was not legitimate and had been made without the proper financial evidence being considered.

However, on Tuesday a Community Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting dismissed his claims.

Cllr Anne Rey, proposing a motion to take no action which was carried by seven votes to one, said: "We have been through a lot of consultations in my lifetime.

"This is only following the same sort of procedure. In my opinion I think everything has been properly looked at."

Cllr Rose said he had not expected "to win" but wanted to ensure "a level of scrutiny" was applied to the decision.

During the meeting he had claimed cabinet members had not considered financial figures before approving the consultation. This was described as "disingenuous" by cabinet member for housing Robert Lawton, who said he would not have made the decision without seeing the figures.

After the meeting Cllr Rose said: "I still believe if all the financials had been presented - they say they've seen them, I have never seen them - it will show that selective licensing will be a very expensive scheme to run."

Cllr Lawton said: "I am pleased that the consultation will go forward. What we want to do is hear from the residents of Bournemouth what their opinions are on this proposal."

He said the financial details and options would form part of the 16-week public consultation, which has been delayed by the call-in and will now start early next year.

Also present was Gavin Dick, local authority policy officer for the National Landlords Association.

He said: "This will affect our members and we don't believe the council has produced a good case for it at all.

"When tried elsewhere selective licensing has actually cost councils money. Take Newham, it cost them £4 million, they got a grant of around £1 million."

If approved, the scheme will see around 900 landlords of almost 5,000 properties have to pay hundreds of pounds for a licence.

Those who fail to sign up to the scheme could face penalties up to £20,000.