Queens Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum and Area Renewal Application Consultation

This consultation has now closed.

Neighbourhood Forums work with local communities to prepare Neighbourhood Plans for their area and forum designations last for five years.

On 10 September 2024, Queens Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum applied to BCP Council to renew its status as the designated neighbourhood forum for the Queens Park ward in accordance with s61F Town and Country Planning Act 1990(External link) and s8 Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012(External link).

The forum was last designated in 2018, and its qualifying body status expired in April 2023. It now seeks to demonstrate compliance with the statutory conditions to enable it to continue to operate as a qualifying body for the purposes of neighbourhood planning within the designated plan area.

Neighbourhood forums must be able to demonstrate that they have a written constitution to describe the basic framework of the organisation including its purpose, membership rules and election of officers. The neighbourhood planning legislation and regulations state that Forums must have at least 21 members who are individuals, either living, working within the area of the neighbourhood forum, or are elected members of the authority concerned.

Queens Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum’s application to be designated as a neighbourhood forum includes a map of the revised neighbourhood area boundary which aligns with the Queens Park Ward boundary (following changes imposed by the Local Government Boundary Commission in late 2018). The neighbourhood area also takes in the Fiveways pub and adjacent retail unit, to the west of Queens Park Avenue.

The information submitted to the council comprises of:

• A covering letter received by email on 10 September 2024
• A combined application form for neighbourhood forum and area designation including a list of stakeholders
• A map of the Queens Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Area boundary
• A written constitution of the neighbourhood forum dated 14 May 2024
• A written constitution of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation for the Queen’s Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum dated 11 June 2024
• Annual Report and Financial Statements – year ended 31 March 2024
• Supporting Statement setting out how the forum is established for the purpose of promoting or improving the social economic and environmental wellbeing of the area.

Please note that if the neighbourhood forum’s status is approved by the council, no other organisation may be designated as a neighbourhood forum for the purposes of the Localism Act 2011(External link) and the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations 2012(External link) for that neighbourhood area until the designation expires or is withdrawn. This will only affect the ability to exercise neighbourhood planning powers and will not affect the existence or creation of any other neighbourhood community voluntary or charitable bodies in the area.

Have Your Say

We asked for views and comments from residents and other interested parties on the proposed forum’s application for qualifying body status and their neighbourhood area boundary. We asked respondents to consider whether this forum should be designated for the purposes of preparing a neighbourhood plan for the proposed neighbourhood area.

During the consultation period, Queens Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum's application and supporting documents could be viewed in the 'Documents' section of this page and at:

• Charminster Library

Representations could be made from 14 October to 25 November 2024 by:

• Completing an online survey or;
• Completing a paper survey which can be downloaded on this page or collected from Charminster Library
• Paper surveys could be emailed to neighbourhoodplanning@bcpcouncil.gov.uk(External link), dropped in the 'Have Your Say' boxes in any BCP library or posted to the address below:
  
  Queens Park & Charminster Neighbourhood Forum and Area Renewal Consultation, Neighbourhood Planning Team, Planning Policy, BCP Council, Civic Centre, Bourne Avenue, Bournemouth BH2 6DY.
  
  
• Writing to us at the above address; or
• Sending an email to (External link)(External link)neighbourhoodplanning@bcpcouncil.gov.uk(External link).

If respondents had any questions or required the documents in a different format, they could contact us at neighbourhoodplanning@bcpcouncil.gov.uk(External link).

The consultation closed at 11:59pm on 25 November 2024.

Next steps

All comments received during the consultation period will be considered and will feed into our formal decision-making process. If the council approves the application, the Queens Park & Charminster Neighbourhood Forum will be able to operate as a qualifying body, for the purpose of neighbourhood planning in the designated area for a period of five years.