Harbourside Park Masterplan Engagement

The Harbourside Masterplan is a document that provides a vision and guidance to enable development and investment to happen in Harbourside Park (the combined parks known locally as Baiter Recreation ground and Whitecliff Recreation ground). It helps to shape the park and ensure that it can be enjoyed to its full potential by residents and visitors for generations to come.

We asked

ECA Architecture and Planning were commissioned to undertake engagement to create a Masterplan for Harbourside Park in September 2022.

ECA reviewed the views expressed and drafted a plan for consultation with statutory consultees in December 2022. Some initial edits were made to the plans and we invited those who commented in September to attend a workshop on the plans in January 2023. Further comments were received, reviewed and made into a series of actions which made further changes to the plan. The final plans and a set of guidance and actions were created in line with the comments received.

You said

The report 'Feedback from the Stage 1 Engagement Events' and a summary are available.

We did

Following the engagement, ECA have made recommendations for the park to BCP Council. These recommendations form a series of illustrative plans for the park and recommendations for implementing those plans.

A video summarises the feedback from the engagement and explains the plans.

The proposed buildings, pontoons and park structures are likely to be the most significant projects that form part of the Masterplan.

The Whitecliff Pavilion has been identified as having huge potential by the community that use or would like to use it. People would also like to see improved facilities/buildings, provided all year round at both the Baiter and Whitecliff ends of the park. These facilities are envisaged to be mixed-use (e.g. toilets, café, changing facilities etc) which could be developed by the council, or in collaboration with businesses and community groups. Such proposals would be considered on a case-by-case basis and be dependent on the planning process.

Since the Masterplan has 10-year lifespan, it is anticipated that projects will be delivered as and when funding opportunities allow. An estimated timeline has been created outlining implementation.

Next steps

The next steps are to take the Masterplan images and report to Cabinet, which is likely to happen in Summer 2023. If the Masterplan is approved, work on a number of reports will commence.