A bid to secure more than £4m to transform land around Poole Bus Station was unsuccessful, the Daily Echo can reveal.
While BCP Council was awarded just shy of £20m to invest in the seafront, the authority failed to obtain levelling up funding from the Government for Poole town centre earlier this year.
The application was seeking £4.237m to kickstart the ‘Lighthouse Quarter’ project, which makes up part of the wider ‘Heart of Poole’ work.
The council’s urban regeneration company BCP FuturePlaces is working up the vision for the ‘Heart of Poole’, and its team assisted the local authority in the production of the levelling up fund application.
Plans aimed to improve facilities for bus station users, enhancing connectivity and personal safety across Kingland Road and nearby underpasses.
The project also included creating a new public space opposite the entrance to the Lighthouse adjacent to the bus station. This would have led to the creation of a ‘box park’ using shipping containers, with pop-up restaurant and café space, studios and workspace.
It is understood the failed funding bid will not compromise the Lighthouse Quarter project, which makes up a “fundamental step” in kick-starting the area’s regeneration.
The proposal included land to the east, south and west of the Lighthouse, while the new square was earmarked for land south of Kingland Road and part of the Seldown Road car park.
A project summary document provided to the Daily Echo said: “The proposed scheme will refresh the public realm, creating: “More usable green space adjacent to the Lighthouse Arts Centre with amphitheatre-style seating and landscape buffering from vehicle noise and pollution to support outdoor performances, a ‘greened’ outdoor café area and accessibility improvements.
“New public square (named ‘Lighthouse Square’) to the south of Kingland Road, enhancing the experience for bus station passengers and Lighthouse Theatre audiences. The space will: anchor a meanwhile development of temporary entrepreneurial, hospitality and creative spaces; provide much-needed affordable town centre workspaces (building on the success of BCP Council’s Kingland Crescent scheme, which offered town centre retail units to local start-up businesses with no rent for an initial two-year period); and address high rates of crime and antisocial behaviour (ASB).
“Safer, better lit and observed underpasses connecting the Lighthouse Arts Centre (and other anticipated nearby developments) with Lighthouse Square and the rest of Poole town centre.
“Improved at-grade crossing, overall public realm and landscape.”
BCP Council was proposing to match fund £747,766 towards the 'Lighthouse Quarter', making an overall project cost of £4,984,371.
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