SENIOR councillors have agreed to a “streamlined” method of procuring developers for its plans to build a hotel next to the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC).

Members of Bournemouth council’s cabinet agreed to a cheaper tendering option for the project, saying that its previous work means that less in-depth working on the plans is needed.

The procurement process for the BIC hotel project was halted in May following a legal challenge despite already being approved by the council.

The site was gifted to Bournemouth council by the South West regional development agency in 2004 on the proviso that a hotel be built there.

A proposal for a combined Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express facility was approved by the council in March.

However, a legal challenge, part of which focused on the council’s lack of tendering to the wider market, was launched by Peel Hotels and Bespoke Hotels following the decision.

Cllr Philip Broadhead, the cabinet member for economic growth, described the challenge as “spurious” but the council then withdrew its plans to reconsider more options for putting the scheme to private companies.

Speaking at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Cllr Broadhead said: “In May we reflected on our decision after some challenges that we received from outside, in particular the local hotel industry that looked at the second part of that procurement process where we introduced the possibility of the council funding element into the mix.

“They criticised that process saying that it may well be something other parties would be interested in getting involved in.

“We took that criticism on board and we instructed officers to cancel that procurement and bring back a few options on how we can move forward and achieve our goals of delivering the hotel that we all agreed on.

“We also recognised that wish that other interested parties may well want to be involved and to look at the funding options to see whether external parties may well be interested in funding or whether the council still had the appetite to use this as a revenue-generating asset.”

Members of the cabinet agreed to a “streamlined” procurement process which will last for between six and 12 months at a cost of up to £60,000 which the council says will give interested parties “ample” time to express an interest in being involved in the project.

The decision was made shortly after councillors gave the go-ahead for plans for a £25m refurbishment of the BIC to be drawn-up and after Travelodge announced its intention to build a hotel as part of its strategy aimed at accommodating conference visitors.