In January 2023 Dorset Council was awarded £19.5m by the Government to help regenerate Weymouth’s Waterside Economy. A key element of the council’s bid included regeneration plans for the North Quay site. We also bid for funding to enable essential groundwork which will allow the eventual development of the Peninsula, this work is progressing.
We have recently asked the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for permission to reallocate some of the levelling up funding originally intended for the town centre, to be moved to the Weymouth Bowl site to fund demolition and redevelopment of the former bowling alley.
North Quay, Weymouth
The former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council office building at North Quay, housed council staff for many years. The building was vacated in 2017 as the Borough Council moved to new offices in Dorchester when it became part of the Dorset Council’s Partnership (DCP). Since 2018, the offices have stood empty.
Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, along with five other legacy district and borough councils and the county council, were dissolved in April 2019 when Dorset Council was formed as a new unitary authority, as part of Local Government Reorganisation.
Previous planning applications to redevelop the site by legacy authorities were unsuccessful.
A carbon impact study of the building and its foundations was undertaken in 2022. This compared the environmental impacts of refurbishing it against demolishing it and building new. The report concluded that a development built to modern sustainable standards will have a reduced carbon impact, compared to refurbishing the old building. This is because modern buildings meet the highest levels of sustainability and as a result, are more energy efficient over the projected lifetime.
In addition, building new homes on this brownfield land means the same number of new homes would not need to be built on greenfield sites.
A new planning application to demolish this building was approved in July 2023 by the planning committee. Since then, Context One Archaeology have carried out a successful 12-week archaeological dig on the North Quay site, finding hundreds of fascinating artefacts and evidence of Weymouth’s historic past.
The archaeological excavations concluded in December 2023 and demolition began, due to complete in Spring 2024 when the site will become a temporary car park, providing 174 spaces. It is hoped this will be open in time for the Easter holidays.
Councillors have agreed that the best future development opportunity for North Quay is to dispose of the site through a procurement process. This will allow us to retain a level of control over the design and quality of any future build. We are now in the process of seeking a development partner.
Any plans for development of this site will be shared publicly for comment before any decisions are made.
Weymouth Bowl Site
A planning application to demolish to old bowling alley on the Weymouth Bowl site is in the consultation stage. Local people and businesses are invited to comment on the planning application through the website. A decision is due to be made at the beginning of March.
If consent to demolish is granted, this site will also become temporary parking until its long-term future use can be agreed upon.
Subject to planning approval, it is likely that we will follow the same procurement exercise as we are doing with North Quay to find a suitable partner to work with on the redevelopment of this site.
A separate planning application will likely be brought forward for redevelopment of the site where members of the public will have chance to comment.