The Bournemouth One News Centre

All the news you need for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole with travel information and national headlines.

• Former care home flats set for approval

  Plans to convert Bournemouth’s former Broadwaters care home into sheltered flats are recommended for approval. The vacant building would provide twenty retirement living flats for people aged sixty-five and above, alongside a communal living room and storage for bins, bikes and mobility scooters. Its existing three floors would contain fifteen one-bedroom homes, four with two bedrooms and one three-bedroom flat intended for a manager. Seventy-one objections raised concerns about retaining the building, the number of homes and pressure on local services, parking and traffic, before revised plans were publicised in March. Four further letters then raised parking concerns, with the application expected to reach the planning committee on Thursday.

• Christchurch studio plan recommended

  Plans for a dedicated exercise studio at Two Riversmeet Leisure Centre are recommended for approval. Exercise classes currently take place in squash courts and the sports hall because the council-run Christchurch centre does not have a purpose-built studio available. The extension proposal followed approval for the council to borrow the required funding, and the planning committee will consider the application at its meeting on twentieth August. One consultation response identified land outside council ownership within the application boundary, but the mistake was corrected and no further comments were received during the process. The committee will make the final decision on the plans.

• Bournemouth fireworks cancelled following alerts

  Tonight’s firework display on Bournemouth beach has been cancelled following a UK Government wildfire emergency alert. The alert received this evening asks landowners to stop activities that could potentially start a fire, specifically including the use of fireworks. Organisers have therefore taken the decision not to go ahead with the planned Bournemouth beach display, despite the fireworks being launched from the sea. They say the safety of residents, visitors and open spaces must come first, and have apologised for any inconvenience caused by the cancellation. The decision follows the wildfire warning issued to people this evening.

• University seeks approval for public parking

  Bournemouth University has applied for retrospective planning permission to allow continued public use of its Studland House and Bournemouth Gateway Building car parks. Both sites have operated for university and public parking since late Two Thousand Nineteen and mid-Twenty Twenty-One, but usage remains low at about twenty vehicles daily. The university seeks to formalize public parking during evenings and weekends, and to keep payment equipment already in place. The consultation period for the application runs until early September.

• Bournemouth Changing Places toilet reopens

  A specialist Changing Places toilet in Bournemouth’s Lower Gardens has reopened after being closed for a year. The facility was shut due to repeated vandalism and anti-social behaviour, which caused significant damage and forced people to travel further for accessible toilets. Enhanced security measures have now been installed, and council teams will monitor the site. The reopening aims to restore vital support for people with severe disabilities in the area.