Bournemouth Borough Council is implementing a compulsory purchase order to buy the remaining lease on the town’s IMAX building for redevelopment.

The council’s planning committee agreed on Friday that it should carry out a CPO in order to speed up negotiations with Allsop, which is managing the property (pictured) on behalf of leaseholder Sheridan Millennium Limited.

In January, the council bought the freehold to the IMAX, otherwise known as the Waterfront building, with a view to demolishing it.

However, the council must now buy the lease in order to start marketing the site for redevelopment. It is unclear whether it will demolish the building or just make alterations.

It wants to turn the unloved site in to a year-round visitor attraction.

John Beesley, deputy leader of the Council, said: “We are still in negotiations with Allsop and are confident that we will very soon come to an agreement to secure the lease.

“As soon as we have this lease we can concentrate on finding a developer to create the right facility and building for the site in line with the Planning Brief.”

• Britannia plans Manchester fire station conversion
• Manchester issues CPO for Britannia-owned fire station
• One North East to buy Vaux Brewery site from Tesco
• Local land grab begins as RDAs wind up
• Jodrell Bank scheme gets £3.1m from NWDA and EU