Kingland Road to be closed permanently as part of £132m Heart of Poole scheme

Poole council has started work on the £132m regeneration project, which has been dubbed the ‘Heart of Poole’. The new Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council will take the project forward from April.

The current plan is to deliver the scheme in seven phases, with an estimated completion date of spring 2027. The development will bring at least 400 new homes to the area, as well as offices, a hotel, a new leisure centre to replace the current Poole (Dolphin) Leisure Centre, and a new bus and coach station. The Seldown car park will form part of the redevelopment site.

• New plans drawn up for replacement bus station as previous designs could have led to more crashes with pedestrians

A large new public space of around 3,500sqm will be created outside Lighthouse as part of the scheme. This will entail the closure of Kingland Road between The George roundabout and Seldown Bridge roundabout.

Work to redesign these roundabouts and permanently shut Kingland Road is set to begin in the summer and be completed in the spring of 2021.

The council has made a £6m bid to the Homes England Housing Infrastructure Fund for the work and is expecting a decision by April.

A provisional timeline for delivering the other phases of the project has been set out in a report to cabinet members by strategic director Kate Ryan and head of growth and infrastructure Julian McLaughlin.

They are recommending splitting the scheme into two separate ‘packages’ due to the long-drawn-out negotiations with bus operator Go South Coast over the layout of the new bus station and the potential for a new off-site bus depot to replace the one behind the Dolphin Shopping Centre multi-storey car park.

• Empire Cinemas to operate new nine-screen cinema complex at Dolphin Shopping Centre
• Plans to modernise Kingland Crescent and Falkland Square approved

The first package includes the new leisure centre, hotel, offices and up to 430 flats on the Dolphin Leisure Centre and Seldown Car Park sites. Delivering this part of the development separately to the new bus station means it can be completed 18-24 months earlier than originally planned. Construction work could start in the winter of 2021 and be completed by the end of 2025. The old leisure centre will be demolished once the new centre is open, and new homes will be built on the site.

It will be up to the new Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council to agree on a development partner for the scheme.

The closure of Kingland Road will free up “a significant area of space” for the public realm and new bus station. The junctions at the existing George Roundabout and Seldown Roundabout will be “reconfigured to allow the closure to take place”. Mount Pleasant Roundabout and the High Street North/ Elizabeth Road junction will also be altered as part of the new road layout.

The council’s aim is “reducing vehicle dominance in the area, enhancing the pedestrian environment and helping to promote sustainable modes of transport”.

Cabinet members will also be asked to support a funding and finance strategy for Heart of Poole at their meeting on Tuesday.

A “significant financial contribution” will need to be made by the borough, according to Ms Ryan and Mr McLaughlin’s report.

Funds from the disposal of part of Beach Road car park and land in Constitution Hill Road would be ring-fenced for the scheme, but other funding sources will be considered including external grants, borrowing, and Community Infrastructure Levy funds. The detailed financial assessment and funding strategy has been made confidential.

“The Heart of Poole development scheme provides a unique once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform Poole town centre and deliver economic, social and community benefits,” the report says.

“It is a complex regeneration scheme of a larger scale than the Borough of Poole has delivered to date”.