FUTURE plans for a seafront conference centre in Bournemouth are to be explored in a £100,000 contract being advertised by BCP Council.

It is searching for a company to carry out a feasibility study on the BIC, including the potential for a replacement “enhanced” complex to be built.

The goal of the latest approach is “to help set a vision to develop and enhance the venue for the next 30-plus years”, it said.

“The aim…is to establish it as a premier event, conference, exhibition, entertainment and touring venue which is at the forefront of the industry and of significant economic benefit for the town,” the project brief says.

It follows the decision of the council’s cabinet in July to shelve plans to build a hotel on neighbouring land off Priory Road.

Deputy leader of the council’s Conservative group, councillor Philip Broadhead criticised the move.

He said the information from the now-cancelled work could have been used to inform a future decision.

But cabinet member for regeneration, councillor Mark Howell, said starting from fresh would allow it to consider all options “from a small refurbishment to moving it [the BIC] somewhere else”.

It unanimously agreed to allocate £170,000 to carry out a feasibility study for the whole project.

This is now being advertised with the council asking for the successful bidder to examine three options for the site.

They are: Keeping the existing building with “extensive” alterations and extensions, building a new “enhanced” conference centre on the existing site and, building a new conference centre on a different site.

A spokesman for the council said the study would allow it to “assess the potential long-term investment and redevelopment options for the BIC”.

“This work will help set a vision to develop and enhance the BIC for the next 30 years and beyond, establishing it as a premier venue, which is at the forefront of the industry and of significant economic benefit for the area,” they said.

The council has set a deadline of January 12 for bids to be made and has set a start date for the contract of February 25.

An update on progress is expected to be given at the next meeting of the cabinet.