Turning my attention again to our monthly newsletter, I note that the year is slipping by yet various persistent agendas, whether international, national, or local, seem to have moved along little with no clear-cut solutions in sight! Whether it is fuel prices and the general cost of living at one level, immigrant boats, rough sleeping, local regeneration issues at another, or more specific to BPCCRA, the future of Beach Road Carpark and an analysis of BCP’s August parking fee hike, nothing much is definitive.
The1887-built historic Haven Hotel, however, offers a welcome ‘exception. ‘The recent demolition application by Richard Carr squarely rejected by BCP much to the delight of the most, Sandbanks Community Group in particular, signals a major rethink to its future. BPCCRA and many of you its members, engaged and registered firm opposition.
Last month saw the government’s plans to overhaul England’s system of county councils and local authorities, abruptly paused. The LGR, Local Government Reorganization, a so-called ‘rearrangement of the deckchairs’ was to replace the 1970s two tier county council, district and borough councils structure with unitary authorities. A more consolidated system which aimed to produce major savings. It is unclear whether this is just a pause or the end of the LGR process. I note it here as something to monitor in view of BPCCRA’s core objectives with its list of specifics around safeguarding our heritage and environment, plus, the services and amenities this offers.
And then, what about water? Much in the news this summer, many experts on the water topic have posed questions around ‘making rain work for us!’ We are informed that we are ‘in drought’ with low reservoir levels after the eighth wettest winter since records began. No new reservoir has been built since 1992; but, the Victorians certainly understood the criticality of water storage ensuring reliable supplies close to where it is needed. Viewpoints Residents Association, a sister organization, www.vpra.org.uk, and member of the SPCLG, recently alerted us to the proposed BCP sale (currently under review) of the disused reservoir at Seaview Poole. The Association sees this an opportunity for the development of community assets. Our next open meeting offers an opportunity to explore this further.
The meeting will be held on Wednesday, 14th October, at St Aldhelm’s Church Hall from 7.30 until 9.00pm.
It will take our ‘theme’ approach to Open Meetings, one which the Association wishes to progress, moving away from agenda-based meetings. It offers a presentation by Julian Okoye, Infrastructure and Environmental Engagement Lead for Wessex Water. We expect the evening will cover the services provided by Wessex including current activity within the overall context of the industry. It will look at how this core public service is charged for, yet provided by, a private company. As we are now seeing, the future of the industry is under the national political spotlight; the evening is positioned for our members and guests to discuss just how this might affect the future in our area.
BPCCRA’s Senior Advisor, Roy Pointer, will introduce and moderate the evening. We warmly welcome you to join the evening. No reservation is required.
BPCCRA, like most residents’ associations, relies on a team of volunteers. We are currently very much in a stage of transition, of fundamental technological progression that requires our Association to step up. We are redefining some of our key roles thus ensuring that they will take no more than a commitment of a few hours per month, and in some cases allow the role-holder to choose whether they wish to sit on the executive committee or simply support it within the defined role. Two roles fit this latter requirement; Events Coordinator and Database Coordinator. Further, we have two positions that urgently need filling; Honorary Secretary and Special Projects Officer which includes responsibility for CIL bids. We do hope that members will come forward to discuss these roles/activities with us.
chairbpccra@pinesandchines.co.uk
Lastly, as you all know, we have recently increased our membership fees as we strive to keep abreast of ever increasing costs, to upgrade our technology, our systems and processes, plus continue to support on-going projects; Pinecliff Gardens gardening group, for example, and the publication of an enhanced Pines and Chines. We offer two editions of this much-loved publication per year, both printed editions and an online edition. Printed editions are widely available for all to access in several public locations as well as delivered to members via wardens and volunteers. We have taken the executive decision to discontinue open access online to the publication’s full content beyond its editorial; from our next edition, we will invite non-members who access the publication online to complete a membership form as part of our drive to recruit additional members at our modest fee. In this way we will be able to retain a financial reserve sufficient to fund the necessary professional opinions required to meet our stated mission of flagging negative planning requests, inappropriate and over-development schemes that can result in natural environment degradation, plus, critical heritage loss. This is our very reason foe being.
Andrea Charman
Chair
October 5, 2026
