CONTROVERSIAL proposals to bulldoze a Southampton bowling centre and redevelop the site have taken another step forward.
Five months after being given permission to demolish the Tenpin complex in Millbrook, Canada Life has submitted a planning application to replace it with a builders' merchant.
Tenpin is a former warehouse that was converted into a 36-lane bowling alley in the early 1990s.
As reported in the Daily Echo, hundreds of people have signed an online petition launched in the summer in a bid to save the popular facility.
Set up by Amanda Baker on Change.org, the petition says Tenpin is the "only place left" in the area for children that is "cheap and affordable".
READ MORE: Shock as residents told Tenpin bowling centre in Millbrook could be demolished
It adds: "To think they want to demolish it just to put a builders' merchant there is shocking.
"If this goes ahead, what have the children got left? There is absolutely nothing for them to do or to have fun with their friends."
But a planning statement that accompanies the application describes the existing building at Auckland Road as "oversized and obsolete".
It adds: "Tenpin has reached a position whereby they cannot trade profitably and alternative redevelopment opportunities have been sought.
"The applicant has thus agreed terms with Travis Perkins to deliver a builders’ merchant on the site.
"It should be noted that the applicant has not forced Tenpin to exit the site. The decision to vacate is mutual between the applicant and Tenpin."
The statement cites several reasons why the bowling centre is no longer viable, saying it is "significantly oversized" and has also been hit by competition from Hollywood Bowl in the Westquay Shopping Centre.
It adds: "The design will represent an improvement on the existing building, which has a low energy performance and is need of replacement given its physical condition."
READ MORE: Hundreds sign petition launched in bid to save Tenpin bowling in Southampton
A design and access statement that also accompanies the application says a vacant office block on the site has fallen into disrepair.
Describing the proposed development it adds: "There is a designated off-loading area within the site for articulated lorries, which will operate via a one-way system within the site to avoid any reversing or three-point turns.
"The existing vehicular access off Auckland Road will be adapted to widen the access for HGVs."
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