CIVIC chiefs have approved a scheme which could see Bournemouth council fund the construction of a luxury hotel in the town.

Plans to build a four-star hotel and hospitality training facility on the site of the former Winterbourne Hotel, Beacon Road car park and the former Georgian Cottage was refused planning consent in 2011, and eventually abandoned in 2015.

However, a new set of plans were approved in 2015.

According to a cabinet report, a new invitation to tender initiated in February this year "has not so far produced a proposal that will secure the development of a four-star hotel on terms that officers are able to recommend to cabinet".

At a meeting on Wednesday (Mar22) members agreed to seek revised tender submissions based on a council-funded construction contract.

The site, next to the Bournemouth International Centre, overlooks the Priory Road car park.

At the meeting council leader John Beesley said: "We hope that this hotel project will support the growth of the BIC long-term.

"Hopefully this council-funded option will improve bids for the project and elicit the necessary bidders to come forward."

Long earmarked for this type of development, the site was bought by South West Regional Development Agency in 2004 and handed to the council, but a 2007 plan stalled when developer Dawnay Day ran into financial difficulties.