‘VISIONARY’ leadership is required of the new Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council to help boost the prospects of retailers, a leading business figure has said.

Speaking at the last ever meeting of Bournemouth council’s cabinet on Wednesday, Paul Kinvig, Bournemouth Town Centre BID (business improvement district) chief operating officer, said that while the town was in a better position than many others, it should not become complacent.

Footfall in the town centre has increased by 15 per cent over the last year while the regional and national averages showed a decline.

He urged councillors who would move into the new authority to make decisions even if the prove to be unpopular in the short term.

Mr Kinvig gave cabinet members a presentation outlining areas of success in the town centre and those which needed improvement.

The two main hindrances he raised were about the prevalence of beggars and the comparatively expensive cost of short stay parking.

However, he said the data for footfall showed how well the town was doing but that “visionary” leadership was required of the new council.

“From a performance point of view, Bournemouth is doing very well,” Mr Kinvig said.

“It’s really, really positive stuff and we are in a much better position than many other towns and cities but that doesn’t mean we should get complacent.”

He said there was a need for better connection through the town and for more events to be held to bring people in.

“What we need from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council, however it moves forward, is visionary leadership which takes decisions even though they might be unpopular in the short term.

“We are moving to a ‘weekday convenience, weekend experience’ way of thinking.”

He said more people were coming into the town centre for shorter stays but that parking for under an hour was more expensive in Bournemouth than anywhere else in the South West.

The council’s cabinet member for transport, Cllr Mike Greene, said this was a deliberate strategy to encourage people to stay in the town for longer.

“We don’t want people to come and park your car, go to the bank and then come back and off you go,” he said at Wednesday’s meeting.

“It was a very deliberate ploy that we made to encourage people to make longer stays by making parking cheaper for people coming for a few hours.”

Councillors agreed to work with the borough’s BIDs to create an action plan for projects in the town centre to keep Bournemouth as “a thriving, vibrant and enjoyable place”.