I WRITE to publicly thank the executive of Boscombe Forum for inviting Cllr John Beesley, leader of Bournemouth council, to speak and take questions at their meeting on Saturday, and also to thank him for speaking with complete confidence on all the issues raised by the attendees.

These ranged across all the partnership themes such as the work that we are doing to reduce the amount of supported accommodation to people with addiction issues, our purchasing of Houses of Multiple Occupation to convert them to flats for families, from the multi-agency work to raise the standards of privately rented homes to working with our MP to achieve changes in legislation where the system works against us, and the investment into improving the Precinct and Christchurch Road to make those areas more open and inviting for shoppers.

It is testament to this council’s commitment to the regeneration of Boscombe that the leader of the council is able to demonstrate his up-to-date knowledge of, and passion for, local initiatives when asked about them and is willing to invest resources into improvements such as the conversion of the former Argos store into a combined centre for our youth service, Regeneration Partnership staff and Safer Neighbourhood police team.

This is the reason why I am absolutely determined that the Boscombe Regeneration Partnership will continue the work that we have started, and that, as long as I and my colleagues, Cllr Chris Wakefield and Cllr Phil Stanley-Watts are the councillors for Boscombe West, the area will gradually begin to demonstrate the creativity and inspiration that lies just under the surface.

We are all proud to live in Boscombe West.

We know that we are not alone in that feeling and anticipate the day when many, many others will agree with us.

COUNCILLOR JANE KELLY,
Boscombe West Ward