BOURNEMOUTH council’s plans to spend £10million building a bus hub in the town centre are “high risk,” its own assessment has concluded.

The council intends to compulsorily purchase the NCP car park in Exeter Road and build a stand-alone bus hub there.

But a report going to cabinet next Wednesday labels the project as “high risk” and states: “This is due largely to the high cost of the scheme and the high-profile nature of these proposals.

“The main risks are associated with obtaining a compulsory purchase order, uncertainty around costs, potential delays and the risk of adverse media coverage.

“These risks will be monitored and managed by a project board in accordance with the council’s project management procedures.”

Last year, planning consultants Terence O’Rourke carried out a feasibility study on the idea of building a bus hub as part of a multi-storey, mixed-use scheme on the site and concluded it was not affordable in the prevailing economic climate.

The plans have now been scaled back and are now for a surface-level bus hub only, which is deemed to be “viable and affordable”.

The report states the bus hub could be implemented quickly to relieve existing bus congestion in Gervis Road, and that both Go South Coast and Yellow Buses fully support the idea.

However, it is unclear how long the bus hub would remain in place. The report describes it as an “interim” or “semi-permanent solution” until a viable mixed-use scheme was progressed.

It would also lead to the removal of all car parking spaces from this location.

Efforts to contact NCP, which owns the site, were unsuccessful. Licet, the developer that has planning permission to build a cinema and restaurant complex on the site, was also unavailable for comment.