Bournemouth cricket ground listed as community asset after residents’ campaign

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Bournemouth cricket ground listed as community asset after residents’ campaign

4:00pm Friday 22nd November 2013 in News


By Melanie Vass

BATTLE: Dean Park cricket ground

CONCERNED residents have succeeded in their bid to get Bournemouth’s historic cricket ground listed as an asset of community value – a move that could hinder any future development.

The Dean Park cricket ground has been put up for sale by the Cooper Dean estate and several parties are said to be interested in making a bid.

But residents, who did not want to see the 150-year-old site built on, used the Localism Act to get it listed as an asset of community value.

They now have up to six months in which to raise funds and make a bid for the ground, if they wish to do so.

Mike McKenna, of Cavendish Road, said residents would support anyone who wanted to retain Dean Park as a sports ground.

But, he added, the community may have to consider submitting their own bid if there was a possibility it would otherwise be built on.

“My hope is the trustees of the Cooper Dean estate will see that there’s local feeling against any property development there,” he said. “If they can get a buyer that suits their needs that would protect the ground from development, why would they not go down that route?

“They are a local charitable trust so we would like to think they have got some feelings towards the community.”

He said he would also be attempting to contact Prince Philip, who captained a Duke of Edinburgh’s XI at Dean Park in 1949, to see if he would support the community in their efforts to protect the ground.

Bill Cotton, executive director at Bournemouth council, said: “We can confirm that the Dean Park cricket ground is now listed as an asset of community value.

“The Cooper Dean estate, who own the site, have been notified and are legally entitled to up to eight weeks to decide whether they wish to appeal against the decision to list the asset.”

Alastair Cowen, one of the trustees of the Cooper Dean estates, said: “We’ve not yet given it any consideration at all. Our next meeting is early December so we will be talking about it then.”

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