Tobias Ellwood, Prospective MP for Bournemouth East, has launched a campaign to highlight the impact the proposed development, north of the hospital, would have on Bournemouth and is asking for residents to sign a petition which will be presented to the Town Hall Planning Committee, when they discuss the application in the New Year.

Commenting on the campaign Tobias said:

The pace of development in Bournemouth is outstripping investment in our infrastructure. We need to halt further development and take stock of what is happening to our town rather than add to our traffic problems.

Those advocating development north of the hospital quote various Town Hall documents including the Borough Development Plan 2002 which promotes the concept of development around Riverside Avenue. As the chaos on Castle Lane shows, these agreements are out of date and bare no significance to the Bournemouth of today.

The impact Castlepoint and other developments have had on Bournemouth reflect a town that is already straining to meet the traffic demands placed on it. Demands likely to worsen if the old bus depot on Mallard Road is to open as another retail outlet with 700 parking spaces.

Troika's proposal to develop the land north of the hospital for office use makes little sense when permission for two additional office blocks as part of the Wessex Fields complex next to the law courts has been granted for years but never built due to lack of demand.

Their proposal to build a new junction off Wessex Way, situated at the location of the present footbridge, will not only eat into Greenbelt land and threaten Holdenhurst village but will do little to ease the traffic issues on Castle Lane.

Troika are offering to build a 'Park and Ride' at this junction as a sweetener to the Council. A 'Park & Ride' placed here will not help the majority of traffic coming into Bournemouth namely from Christchurch and Poole. The land is designated as part of the flood plain by the Environment Agency who do not support the application.

A similar application for a 'Park & Ride' in the same location was thrown out a few years ago on the grounds that it constituted inappropriate development within the Green Belt and against the wishes of local residents. The same reasons apply today. Local Government is the custodian of the countryside for good reason, to prevent the concreting over of our open spaces. Once greenbelt is lost, it is lost forever.

As the mood of Littledown Area Forum last Friday showed, the people of Bournemouth want to keep our Greenbelt and regain control from developers as to how our town grows.

For more information please contact:

Tobias Ellwood
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate
Bournemouth East
Haviland Road West
Bournemouth
BH1 4JW

Email: Tobias@bournemoutheastconservatives.com