QUESTIONS are increasingly being asked about the role, operation and future of the Bournemouth Development Company.

Senior councillors in Poole are understood to have asked for more information over how the company is run and its transparency.

Meanwhile the issue was raised at a private meeting of the ruling Bournemouth council Conservative group on Monday night.

Concerns over the firm, a partnership between the council and investment company Morgan Sindall, have heightened as the new Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council nears inception on April 1.

Some of those involved in the company (BDC) have also discussed expanding its remit to incorporate public land in neighbouring Christchurch and Poole, to the concern of many councillors and residents.

One such target is said to be the Seldown site in Poole.

A leaked email to Tory members in Bournemouth last month stated: “It may be helpful to explain that though the original vision was to develop within Bournemouth there is nothing directly in the contract that prevents us doing projects outside Bournemouth but in the locality.”

The company was set up via the Government's 'local asset-backed vehicle' scheme to develop flats, retail and leisure developments on public car parks across the town, while also providing new underground and multi-storey car parks on site.

Transferring the company to the new authority may not be straightforward.

The contract on which it is based is actually between the council and a firm called Community Solutions for Regeneration (Bournemouth) Ltd – a wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan Sindall Investments (MSI). BDC says this was set up to allow MSI to "manage project specific accounts".

The directors of this latter firm are Morgan Sindall chief executive John Morgan and finance director Stephen Crummett, as well as MSI managing director Lisa Scenna and director Richard Dixon.

Ms Scenna and Mr Dixon also sit on the board of BDC itself, alongside its chief executive Duncan Johnston, Bournemouth council executive director Bill Cotton and Cllr David d’Orton-Gibson. The BDC board is unpaid.

Concern over the set-up and activities of the 20-year partnership is not limited to members of neighbouring boroughs.

Last month the Bournemouth Tory group held a private meeting to discuss how BDC works, with Cllr d’Orton-Gibson promising to “dispel some of the myths” and “provide the facts”.

The leaked email revealed that the council was bound by its contract to supply car parks for development or face paying compensation to Morgan Sindall for the “loss” of the sites.

In the email, Cllr d’Orton-Gibson (left) said the cost of withdrawal from the agreement “will run into millions”.

Last month the councillor also wrote to the Echo in response to a letter from property developer Richard Carr calling the partnership “highly questionable” and “flawed”.

Cllr d’Orton-Gibson said all BDC developments required the prior approval of councillors, and the partnership ensured they would be tailored to the needs of the borough, rather than satisfying a drive for profits in the private sector.

“Yes Morgan Sindall share in the profits, but they get no more than the council as equal partners, and the local area benefits from jobs, housing and regeneration,” he wrote.

“Currently 85 per cent of the money spent on development goes to businesses in BH postcodes, which in addition to the council’s profit, means that the vast majority of the development money stays in the area for the advantage of local residents.”

Other safeguards ensure land is only transferred to BDC only as construction is about to start, and is returned if not developed.

The firm also says it will "never employ councillors or council executives as consultants, paid either directly, in kind or through the organisations that appoint them".

In Bournemouth the company has completed housing schemes on the former Berry Court, Leyton Mount and Madeira Road West car parks, and after Christmas it began construction of 50 flats on the former St Stephen’s Road car park.

It has planning permission for a mixed residential and leisure scheme on the Winter Gardens car park which is thought to be the largest such development in the borough’s history.

The other sites earmarked for development include the Bath Road, Central, Cotlands, Eden Glen, Glen Fern, Richmond Hill, Town Hall Annex and West Hill car parks.

Thus far the company has only had one scheme rejected.

While approved by the council as a whole – in the face of angry opposition from residents and parents at the nearby St Michael’s School – plans to build 44 flats on the Durley Road car park were turned down by the planning board.

However, to the surprise of some councillors, BDC has now referred the decision on appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

Town centre councillor and cabinet member for planning David Smith called the decision “unusual”, while board chairman Cllr David Kelsey said he was “not happy” with the decision to appeal.

Board member Cllr Steve Bartlett said he was “absolutely amazed”. He said: “I’m very disappointed that the BDC have done this.

"Underlying this is my real concern that the BDC is much more about the interests of the developer rather than the interests of the people of the town.”

Yet the firm’s determination to build on the site has been clear for some time.

In November 2017 a planning consultant representing BDC, John Montgomery, told the board it was only a matter of time before the site was developed.

“The car park will be lost, it is clearly in your adopted policy,” he said.

“There is no actual policy requirement for the car park to be replaced.”

The decision will be made by a Government inspector.

While BDC may have good grounds to appeal the decision, since the site is indeed earmarked for flats in the borough’s own policy documents, the affair is unlikely to assuage the concerns the BDC may be more concerned with profit than public benefit.