Local government in Dorset was reorganised on 1 April 2019, with the nine councils covering the county replaced by two.
Hitherto, Bournemouth and Poole were each separate unitary authorities (meaning that they covered all services in their area) while the rest of Dorset was two-tier, with certain services provided by the County Council and others by the six smaller district councils.
From 1 April 2019, five of the six district councils (namely East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, West Dorset and Weymouth & Portland) were disbanded along with the County Council, and that area was replaced by a single unitary council known as Dorset Council.
Meanwhile, the other district (Christchurch) was merged with Bournemouth and Poole to create a single unitary council for the three towns, known officially as Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council but operating under the more snappy name BCP.
I was impressed, as I arrived at the Town Hall at 9 o'clock on this first morning of the new council's operation, to see that the main signage has already been put up.
Here, we see the frontage of the
SZ0891 : Bournemouth: the Town Hall Annexe with the Bournemouth coat of arms set into the concrete. The previous Bournemouth Borough sign below the coat of arms can be seen here
SZ0891 : Bournemouth: coat of arms on the Town Hall Annexe.
As well as the obvious reference to the coastline in the BCP logo (bottom-right), the main town centres of the three towns are represented by the larger dots, and the entire dotted area approximately equates to the geographical area if it were viewed on a map. The total number of dots, 113, is intended to represent the new council's make up: 76 councillors, 33 wards, three towns, one council.