A BOURNEMOUTH MP has called for the council to abandon its business park plans for Wessex Fields.

Tobias Ellwood, who represents Bournemouth East, said the council should focus on getting businesses into empty units in the town centre.

The MP, who opposes part of the borough's related plan to build a new junction on the A338, says the Wessex Fields site east of the Royal Bournemouth Hospital would be better used for new schools.

He said: "I am seeking clarification of the town’s strategy to support town centre shops which are under pressure from a shift to online shopping.

"Encouraging businesses to occupy the vacant buildings in the town centre will support the retail sector.

"Investing in a new edge of town business park (where is currently no business case) will play against this.

"The land would be far better utilised with a new primary and secondary school that the town so desperately needs."

However, cabinet member for economic growth Councillor Philip Broadhead said the Wessex Fields site was designed to appeal to new growth industries, which would be less attracted to town centre locations.

Also, he said, the council's plans would give a knock-on boost to the high street.

"Bournemouth had the fastest growing employment rate in the UK last year but that doesn't mean we can't plan for our future," he said.

"There are new key areas we are exploring with Wessex Fields, such as the medi-tech sector.

"It is not a replacement for other areas of the town, it is more likely to encourage new and expanding industries, to help boost employment.

"Every town has different areas which focus on different things."

He said the borough was setting up "planning exercises" in the next couple of months to set out a strategy for attracting businesses to the site.

The council recently withdrew its Wessex Fields A338 junction link plans and resubmitted them. The previous scheme had hundreds of objections from residents and consultee bodies.

Cllr Broadhead said: "Part of the reason for the new planning application going in is that we have got rid of nearly all the objections.

"It was cleaner to put a new application in having spent considerable time getting over all the hurdles."