STAKEHOLDER\u00a0 CONSULTATION\u00a0 MEETING \u2013 CARLTON\u00a0 HOTEL, BOURNEMOUTH\u00a0 10\/4\/18<\/p>\n
Discussion sessions were held at the Carlton in April for interested parties in conjunction with Bournemouth Borough Council and Donald Insall Associates in order to help formulate \u00a0viable Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plans for the Old Christchurch Road, the East Cliff and the West Cliff Conservation Areas. In particular it was considered desirable to ascertain how best these important areas of historical townscape could be synthesised into the future general development needs of the town centre.<\/p>\n
With respect to the Old Christchurch Road Conservation Area, discussion was focused on the particular spatial qualities of this throughfare; whether or not the existing boundaries should be revised; the architectural qualities of particular buildings and how this central part of the conurbation should evolve in the future.<\/p>\n
It was accepted from the start that Old Christchurch Road was, in general terms, a unique piece of townscape that had survived from the late Nineteenth Century and that it was and remains the main spine of the historic section of Bournemouth.\u00a0 Participants felt that the exceptional quality of the, mainly Italianate, retail premises constructed between c. 1860 and 1930 from Gervis Place to Albert Road ( St. Peter\u2019s Walk ), created an exceptional Sense of Place for this part of Old Christchurch Road and should be preserved as they were originally built at all costs.\u00a0\u00a0 However it was also felt that the architecture \u00a0of the middle section of Old Christchurch Road, generally as far as Glen Fern Road \u2013 in particular the elaborate, half-timbered revivalist, Dalkeith Buildings and the Italianate retail premises between Horseshoe Common and Glen Fern Road \u2013 also encouraged a distinctive Sense of Place.<\/p>\n
In addition the participants, being mindful of insensitive intrusions into Old Christchurch Road \u2013such as Beales Department Store and the new construction in the general vicinity of Lorne Park Road \u2013 felt that the relatively inferior quality of the existing townscape in the lower part of Old Christchurch Road \u2013 especially the low rise, interwar premises west of Stafford Road and the Victorian structures between Wotton Mount and the Landsdown \u2013 could warrant a degree of sensitive reconstruction\/redevelopment in the future. Further\u00a0 it was considered necessary that\u00a0 a strict policy of enforcing\u00a0 appropriately designed shop fronts should be enacted in respect to all future building work in this area in the near future.<\/p>\n
Later on a vote, it was decided that the proposed boundary extensions to the Old Christchurch Road Conservation Area should be allowed.\u00a0 The main reason was to include adjacent pieces of townscape; both to enhance the urban context of the existing conservation area and also better to protect it from the visual impact of nearby, insensitive new development.\u00a0 The most significant extension would be along Westover Road.\u00a0 Such a move, not only would conserve the inter war, neo-Georgian retail\/commercial terrace ( to 26 Westover Road ) but also better secure the Art Deco Westover Cinema and Ice Rink, the Italianate Gaumont Cinema and the International Moderne Palace Court Hotel against badly designed redevelopment.\u00a0\u00a0 The commercial buildings along Hinton Road were not considered worthy of conservation status but west of Gervis Place, the considerable nineteenth century retail premises\u00a0 between Terrace Road and the Square were felt to be worthy of inclusion.\u00a0 It was also felt practical to include the considerable architectural variety of large interwar, retail\/apartment buildings along Bourne Avenue ( with an outlier to Saint Stephen\u2019s Hall ) between the Congregational Church and the Square;\u00a0 the\u00a0 eclectic mix\u00a0 of late Victorian and more modern commercial structures between Yelverton Road\u00a0 and Richmond Gardens on Richmond Hill and also the lower part Old Christchurch Road\u00a0 between Lorne Park Road and the Landsdown.<\/p>\n
Discussion then continued in respect to the visual\u00a0 contribution of individual buildings along Old Christchurch Road.\u00a0 The main criteria of judgement was the extent to which a particular structure retained sufficient, original architectural features to make it worth retaining and\/or restoring in relation to sustaining\u00a0 the overall,\u00a0 distinctive aesthetic qualities of the adjacent townscape. If such\u00a0 criteria were not met, the implications of replacing the building\u00a0 with a new structure where the design would not detract from the general urban characteristics of the area were also tackled.<\/p>\n
However it was decided that while certain specific buildings such as Dalkeith Buildings, the old Bright\u2019s Department Store and the Cadena Cafe certainly were worthy of special consideration,\u00a0 it was the general high quality of the greater proportion of the individual buildings taken together, that made the justification of this important central throughfare in Bournemouth, worthy of exceptional consideration.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The main conclusion of this intensive meeting was the need to promote and enhance within a safe environment, the social viability and the existing retail and leisure facilities of Old Christchurch Road. That to achieve this it would be necessary to make a more precise division of the existing townscape in order to distinguish those buildings that should be renovated; those buildings that should be more comprehensively restored or reconstructed and those buildings which should be replaced by new developments\u00a0 of modern design but complimentary to adjacent property.<\/p>\n
Above all it was felt necessary to send a strong message to the Government that important conservation areas such as Old Christchurch Road still have a vital role to play in the life of older towns and cities and where the replacement of the existing townscape by insensitive high rise\/high density development is proposed for mainly ideological reasons, this is most definitely the wrong path to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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