RESIDENTS might eventually be asked if they would back a BCP bid for city status for the area.

Cabinet member Cllr Philip Broadhead has suggested that people be asked their views – despite claims that almost nobody in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area wants it to be considered as a ‘city’ or ‘city region.’

“You have got to hear what local people and local businesses think…The actual name, ‘city’, or ‘city region’ doesn’t make any difference to people’s life,” he said.

Cllr Broadhead, Cabinet member for regeneration and the economy, said in the case of Coventry it had meant a £600million cash injection.

He argued that there could be financial benefits in bidding for city status which might bring Government funding for a range of projects.

He told a council overview and scrutiny board that it might be an idea to get ‘soundings’ from the public about whether going for city status was something which should be pursued.

“I’m not wedded to it, either way, but you can’t ignore the level of investment it attracts – so, worth listening to people is always my view,” he said.

Earlier he told the meeting that there was a danger in pre-supposing what people think.

“We are the tenth largest urban authority in the country. ‘City’ is a very loaded term and ‘city region’ just says ‘an urban area’ and that is the basis why Government use it. However, I will put my hands up: Politically we have put it front and centre of our big plan because we hope to drive that economic prosperity forward and it’s important that we demonstrate the actual scale we are operating on; but by no means do I think that has to undermine the individuality of our more rural areas, or semi-urban areas…we are a travel to work area of half a million people now. Let’s call a spade a spade.”

Cllr Broadhead said that the view in Westminster was that the three towns were considered a city, or city region, whether or not it was labelled as such and already qualified for some financial support designed specifically for cities.

But Cllr Mike Brooke chair of the local plan working group said many people wanted nothing to do with the label and the majority of his group, on a 5-2 vote, was suggesting dropping any reference to ‘city’ in local plan documents: “None of the three towns is actually classed as a city and it’s therefore false to refer to a city region. There was considerable concern that by using the phrase ‘city region’ the characteristics of the three separate towns might, possibly, get eroded away and one of the things about BCP is that it has three towns each with their own unique characters,” he said.

Cllr Broadhead told the overview and scrutiny hearing: “We are known by Government as a city region and I don’t think for one second that it changes anybody’s particular street but it is a sense of ambition about the area that we are, it is about how we are viewed by Government…but I appreciate people have different views on that and I will take it away for further consideration,” he said.

Christchurch councillor Mike Cox said that just because the Government used the phrase ‘city region’ there was no need for BCP to follow.

“We are three towns and we have a lot of pride in our three separate towns,” he said.