Further to the article in Monday's Echo about the Camera Obscura above the cafe in Bournemouth Square, I welcome the statement from the operator that, after ten years of ‘technical problems’, a solution is imminent and the public will soon have access to the not-to-be-missed attraction!
As the article said, the building is leased from the Council. As Councillors, we suffer all sorts of frustrations, one of which is the inheritance of past decisions. In this case, it seems that the enforcing the lease conditions is less than straight forward.
However, Bournemouth Council has become much smarter in dealing with such matters in recent years, with Councillors being far more closely involved with the work of the Council's legal and property staff. The settlement with the Meyrick Estate over the Lower Gardens and Pavilion (both of which are now controlled by charitable trusts on behalf of the public) is one example. The spectacle of the then Leader of the Council not being aware of the signing of a contract for the casino scheme next to the Pavilion on the very day of the last Council elections in 2007 was a scandal, as was the subsequent delay caused by the unresolved lease issues.
We are also on track to sort out the IMAX lease issues so that we can get on with replacing the eyesore with something of which the town can really be proud, and which takes into account of the tremendous public response to the Council's consultation on the future of the site.
Cllr Stephen MacLoughlin
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