PLANS have been unveiled for a £50 million development that could create as many as 3,000 new jobs in Bournemouth.

Proposals that would see land behind the Royal Bournemouth Hospital transformed into 400,000 square feet of office accommodation have been submitted to planners.

Troika Developments is also proposing to finance, build and run a park-and-ride scheme for more than 1,000 cars and a new access junction from the A338 Spur Road.

Managing director Nigel Walters described the scheme as "win, win, win" for Bournemouth and said it would address the town's shortage of office space.

The site around the existing retired nurses' home at Riverside is already earmarked in the local plan as office accommodation and the council's own version of the park-and-ride site behind it has also gone through the local plan process.

Mr Walters said: "This is the best piece of real estate in the conurbation and we feel now is the right time to take the plans forward."

Troika built the Rias office in front of the law courts and said this revealed great demand for out-of-town office space with parking facilities.

The Poole-based developer has already opened discussions with some of the town's biggest employers and is confident the office space will prove popular.

"There is demand there and we want to capitalise on that," said Mr Walters. "This scheme will cost us £50 million plus, which demonstrates our confidence in Bournemouth.

"This is important for Bournemouth and we think we have a situation that will assist all round. It's designed to be of long-term benefit. It's a win, win, win situation."

The park and ride scheme will include a lorry park to replace the facility in Kings Park and will aim to reduce Castle Lane's traffic congestion problems.

Mr Walters said he hoped to have concluded negotiations on the finer details of the plans by early 2005 and anticipated starting work later in the year.

Bournemouth Borough Council spokeswoman Jo Evans said: "The council has received two planning applications from Troika Development. The first application is for office space, health care and nursing facilities. This is now registered and the public consultation stage will begin.

"It's early days for their second planning application, which is for a park-and-ride scheme, as an environmental impact assessment is needed before the application can be processed further."

Littledown ward councillor Simon Foster said: "This is an interesting proposal and we will be scrutinising it carefully."

First published: Oct 9