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Search the Public Notice PortalTHE fight to save a clifftop car park from development is ongoing despite BCP Council announcing its permanent closure.
Residents and politicians ‘are not giving up’ in their attempts to halt the plans for flats at Southbourne Crossroads car park.
Developer Vivir Estates has planning permission to build four apartment blocks comprising of 27 flats at the site.
BCP Council has now announced the car park off Southbourne Coast Road will be closing on Monday, January 15, indicating the plans are progressing.
Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood has been working with residents to campaign against the development.
Together, they have been formulating a strategy around a ‘right to light’ under the Prescription Act of 1832 – and are continuing to challenge it despite the upcoming closure.
Mr Ellwood said: “You can’t just plonk a building in front of another person’s house and deny them access to light, particularly if it is south facing.
“I’ve spoken to the local resident’s group I have been campaigning with, and they’re going to send a letter [to the developer] to say they are pursuing this and that no building works should take place before this is resolved.
“If you can’t prevent the entirety of the build, what you can do is influence what then goes there.”
He added: “This really is overdevelopment and a loss of an important amenity, particularly for a town that is so reliant on tourism.
“Clearly, the developer is trying to further their own interest. The developer does not have Bournemouth’s interest at heart, and simply wants to make money.”
Vivir Estates submitted two separate schemes for the site; one in May 2021 which was refused, and a second in August 2022 which was a non-determination.
A non-determination is when the local authority fails to determine the application within the statutory period.
Vivir Estates launched two appeals against the refusal and the non-determination, and both were granted, seeing the developer secure full planning permission for the site.
At the time, the planning inspector noted Bournemouth Borough Council’s cabinet said the car park was “surplus to requirement” and that it “should be sold” in 2017.
And, that refusing the scheme on the basis of losing parking spaces would be “unacceptable".
