A CUL-DE-SAC containing 80 flats has been proposed for a former gas works site in Poole that was previously controversially earmarked for a police custody suite.

After running into strong opposition a plan for a joint Bournemouth and Poole custody suite proposed for Bourne Valley was dropped by Dorset Police last summer.

Now the vacant plot of land on the corner Bourne Valley Road and Yarmouth Road could be turned into a mini complex of 80 flats built in a circular design and rising to three and four-storeys high.

The scheme would be accessed from a road in Bourne Valley Road and would have 120 car parking spaces together with bicycle parking spaces.

Outline planning approval is being sought by SecondSite Property Holdings, which has lodged it plans with Poole Council.

The brownfield site was formerly part of the nearby gas works site and has already undergone £600,000 of remedial work to prepare it for development, according to a report by planning agent Hunter Page Planning.

It has been a chequered history for the 1.6 hectare site in recent years. An earlier attempt to secure outline planning permission was turned down but ended with a planning inspector in March 2000 acknowledging the site was suitable for housing.

Two years later it was at the centre of Dorset Police's plans for a custody suite to serve Bournemouth and Poole - but the plan ran into strong opposition from residents and was dropped.

Now SecondSite is seeking to create 80 "high quality" residential apartments on the site.

First published: September 2