Christchurch 'takes more than the rest of Dorset due to its elderly population'

Poole Liberal Democrat councillor Philip Eades made the comment on an ongoing email thread between the members of all three existing councils, on which last week Bournemouth Tory councillor Nick Rose proposed a radical shake-up of proposed border arrangements to include Ferndown in the new conurbation unitary.

In response to this Christchurch Independent councillor Colin Bungey warned that losing industrial areas around Ferndown would be bad news for the new ‘rural’ Dorset Council.

The majority of Christchurch’s councillors are opposed to the merger, in part due to fears that an expanding Bournemouth will seek to build on the smaller town’s outskirts.

He said: “Unfortunately, the proposals to take the industrial areas of Ferndown into a Greater Bournemouth area takes no account of the possible financial effect and the viability of Future Dorset should the legal challenges fail and the two new unitary authorities are born.

“Many councillors across Dorset seem to have forgotten that both Christchurch and Bournemouth were moved into Dorset to make the county financially viable.

“The county already lost the Bournemouth and Poole income when they gained unitary status in the 1980s.

“If I were a Dorset County councillor or a resident, I would now, with the prospect of losing the substantial financial contribution made by Christchurch to the county coffers, be very concerned about the future.”

He added: “I can however see the attraction for Bournemouth in getting their hands on such rich pickings!!”

But Cllr Eades said the ageing population in Christchurch would prove to be more of a burden than a benefit to the conurbation unitary.

“When will Christchurch understand that they are the demographically-oldest borough in the country?” he said.

“My grandmother (96) resident of Barrack Road contributes to this.

“Christchurch does not have coffers to contribute to anyone. They will take more per head of population than any other area of Dorset FACT by virtue of their demand upon adult social services.

“Just repeating the mantra ‘we are rich – Bournemouth (and Poole) are stealing our wealth’ does not make it true.”

Christchurch certainly has a high proportion of elderly people in its population, according to the latest constituency figures.

Some 35 per cent of residents in the constituency are aged over-65, compared with 18 per cent nationwide and in Bournemouth, and around 20 per cent in Poole.