I AM surprised that my old friend Brian Jenner suggests that the demolition of the Imax is a "populist gesture to win votes".

At the time of the last election, residents throughout the town were demanding that this horrendous carbuncle of a building was demolished and as a result, we responded by pulling it down and restoring one of the best seascapes in Britain. If responding to residents’ demands is regarded as "populist" then so be it.

Profligate we are not! In the council's recent budget announcement, an unprecedented £1 million has been earmarked to help Bournemouth people affected by the imminent Welfare Reform measures, and a further half a million has been set aside for when universal credit changes happen in the autumn. And an extra £6 million is being spent for adult and children's social care for this year alone, so money is certainly not being wasted. The Imax was hated as a building from the time it opened, over 15 years ago, before most members of today's Council were elected.

Residents have been demanding its demolition and it was voted as England's most despised building in a television programme a couple of years ago.

The private companies who built the horrible building and operated the cinema did not take full advantage of new technology and closed it down several years ago.

CLLR ANNE FILER, Cabinet Member – Corporate Efficiency, Bournemouth Town Hall