THE transfer of two community facilities in Wimborne to the town council is unlikely to happen due to their “strategic significance” for the new Dorset unitary authority.

Wimborne Minster Town Council had asked East Dorset District Council for Allendale House and the Allendale Community Centre ahead of the abolition of the district council next year.

But their requests for Allendale House and Allendale Community Centre were rejected due to their “value” with a report to the district council’s cabinet in August recommending that a decision be made by the new unitary authority following its formation in April.

At the meeting, councillors requested further information to consider the recommendation from council officers that the two facilities are not given to the town council.

Due to the value of the two centres, it was proposed that any decision be deferred until the new council is formed. The report says: “There is strong evidence to suggest that the assets in question have strategic significance for the new authority and should not therefore be transferred at this time.

“The view is supported by feedback from the Shadow Dorset council interim officer whose views would be required should the transfers in this report be progressed and subsequently be referred to the Dorset Council shadow executive.Officers recommend that the transfer of these assets should not take place at this time but should be referred to the new authority to be considered alongside all of their other assets in a strategic manner at a future date.”

Wimborne and East Dorset councillor Shane Bartlett said that he hoped that the new council would consider the request. “To honour the structural change order viewed as a potential loss to the new authority must not be transferred to a town or parish,” he said.

“I fully understand the reasons and I’m hopeful the new authority will consider the town council’s application next year.”

Two pieces of land owned by the district council, one in Sturminster Marshall and the other in West Moors, are also set to be transferred to the new council despite requests from parish councils for them.

The requests were rejected due to the potential for the two sites to be developed in the future.

The four assets were the only ones out of 44 requests considered in August to be rejected by the district council.