BCP Local Plan Issues & Options consultation

The BCP Issues & Options paper is a prelude to the Local Plan, which will shape policy in the towns of Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch until 2038 and possibly beyond. The paper was two years in the making. Yet residents have been given a mere eight weeks to comment on this paper, which covers such diverse topics as housing provision, retail strategy, transport infrastructure, the natural environment and climate policy. The housing section alone lists 180 development sites, many of them fraught with potential complications: 55 of the sites are greenfield, 42 are in conservation areas, while 32 are in flood zones or future flood zones (this last category alone accounting for 5,274 potential residences). We would therefore urge BCP Council to extend the consultation exercise by 6-8 weeks, to allow the public to digest, discuss and research the ramifications of the numerous proposals - thus ensuring more meaningful and democratically-representative feedback.