A DEVELOPER has tabled plans to flatten a Bournemouth community centre and build a block of 14 flats.

Stalbridge Park Homes Limited’s proposal for the Moose Centre in Malmesbury Park Road, Charminster, has attracted objections from residents around the site.

The plans would see six one-bed and eight two-bed flats provided in a three-storey building, with 11 car parking spaces provided on the site.

A planning statement submitted on behalf of the applicant by Darryl Howells Planning Consultancy Limited said: “It is considered that the submitted scheme creates a carefully balanced and attractive proposal which will respect the pattern and layout of development in the vicinity and preserves and enhances the character and appearance of the area.

“Residential amenity of existing occupants of adjacent properties will be preserved and the amenity of future occupants will be high. Parking and access are considered appropriate to the site and location.”

The statement said evidence showed that activities occurring at the centre were diminishing in terms of numbers, hours of usage and frequency.

Despite the easing Covid restrictions last year, it was unlikely the centre’s full capacity would be used again, the statement said.

It added: “In respect of the proposed development, the applicant will advise that the loss of the community hall can be accommodated elsewhere, and that there is no demand for the use, and that the use of the site as residential will provide greater benefit.

“Within close walking distance to the site, there are alternative facilities that the community could use (for meetings or presentations), such as Malmesbury Park Primary School (hall), or St Andrews Church.”

The application has attracted objections from 11 residents in Malmesbury Park Road and nearby Stewart Road and Bennett Road These residents have raised issues with the proposed scale of proposed building and the number of proposed car parking spaces.

Bournemouth Civic Society has said that it believes the size of the proposed residential building it “too large for the general scale of townscape on this side of Malmesbury Park Road.

They added that they were unsure if there were sufficient grounds to close the community facility permanently.