Fears that renewing licenses to set up pop-up restaurants in some of the busiest spots on Bournemouth’s beaches could lead to access problems.
Concerns were raised at the BCP council licensing committee meeting on Wednesday that the move could worsen coastal congestion and anti-social behavior issues.
However, the council’s contract manager Noel Oliver said previous shorter test runs near Bournemouth Pier had not caused any problems.
After the committee approved two new licenses on Tuesday – one near Tofts Zigzag and the other on East Cliff – it met again to consider expanding the existing licenses.
These include the West Cliff wedding area, the area around Bournemouth Pier and a location east of Boscombe Pier.
Council event manager Helen Wildman confirmed at the meeting that the previous beach wedding agreement had expired and had not been resubmitted. She added that this position will be reviewed after the summer.
However, the city council is hoping to renew the license for the area and those on the Bournemouth and Boscombe piers to host a number of pop-up restaurants for the expected influx of visitors this summer.
Changes include allowing alcohol to be sold, extending the time music can be played until 10 p.m., and expanding the range of events that can be hosted.
Objections were raised against the proposals, raising concerns that they might re-create the messy scenes seen last year, leading to their being scrutinized by city councils on Tuesday.
Members of the Approval Committee have raised separate issues, particularly in relation to the Bournemouth Pier proposals.
“This is the busiest area of ​​the beach and I am quite concerned that it will be banned from restaurant use,” said Councilor Andy Hadley. “It comes back to the problem of congestion and whether this is the appropriate place.”
Noel Oliver, the council’s contract manager, said the site’s use had been tried for shorter periods of time, including during the air festival, and had not caused any problems.
“It’s a very densely populated area, but that’s why we want to introduce catering as we get saturation in our restaurants where people line up for hours for a serving of chips,” he said. “If we’ve used this website in the past, it has never caused us problems with congestion or access along the beach.”
To allay fears that initially led the Dorset Police to object to the changes, the council had agreed on 24 conditions, including limiting the number of people at a site.
When the committee approved the two new licenses on Tuesday, it added a 25th, limiting the number of events that can take place each year.
The committee has taken a decision on the proposed change to the other three licenses, but it has not yet been made public.
Committee chairman Judy Butt was unable to comment when contacted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.