Chair of Bournemouth 2026

Bob Boulton

Bob has a long association with Bournemouth and the surrounding area. He was born in Christchurch, has lived and worked in Bournemouth for many years and was the Police Divisional Commander for Bournemouth and Poole from 2002 to 2008.

Bob is no stranger to partnerships, being involved in Bournemouth’s Local Strategic Partnership and Community Development initiatives for many years with a reputation for overcoming bureaucracy, identifying opportunities and making a real difference to the lives of people in Bournemouth. This was recognised in 2008 when he was awarded an MBE for services to policing and the community.
 
His experience in the voluntary sector includes roles as Trustee with both the Dorset Race Equality Council and more recently with BH Live, the Trust responsible for running key leisure and entertainment venues in Bournemouth. For the last couple of years, he has been working in Trinidad and Tobago.

Bob welcomes this opportunity,‘Leading the partnership through a time of great change will be challenging. Radical thinking and action is required to successfully deliver activities to make meaningful and lasting change. Bournemouth is a great town – I am determined that the partnership will do all it can to make it even better. I am confident that by working with elected members, partners and the public we will bring about real improvement to the quality of life of thousands of people. We must also look beyond our boundaries and create strong partnerships with our neighbours and the region.
We are in challenging times. There has never been a more important time to work together. We can view these times as either a threat or an opportunity – I see them as a real opportunity to improve services – but we need to be radical and innovative.

Partnership is not difficult or complex, provided some critical ingredients are in place:
 
• Directive and focused leadership - committed to action
• Strong relationships - lean and flexible structures
• Keeping things simple
• Small number of priorities
• Take action and achieve excellent results
• Eliminate duplication of effort
• Measure activity and hold each other to account
• Review and learn quickly
 
So my job is to make sure that this happens!

The Bournemouth 2026 Partnership will continue to make a significant contribution towards building a better Bournemouth'.

Bob is currently leading on the review of Bournemouth 2026 partnership arrangements. If any partners wish to contribute to this review please send your comments to bournemouth2026@bournemouth.gov.uk or telephone Debbie Clifton on (01202) 456848.

The role of the Bournemouth 2026 Chair

The Chair of the Partnership, currently Bob Boulton, is appointed to carry out the following role:

To be the figurehead and main spokesperson for the Bournemouth 2026 partnership.
To lead the partnership in achieving and reviewing Bournemouth Vision 2026.
To chair quarterly meetings of the Bournemouth 2026 Vision Board.
To steer the preparation of the Vision Board’s agenda, clear the minutes, deal with urgent items arising in between meetings of the Vision Board, troubleshooting problems within the Vision Board and between the Consultation Forums.
To provide quarterly updates to the Vision Board and for the Bournemouth 2026 newsletter on progress, activity and issues.
To chair the annual Bournemouth 2026 conference.
To attend other Bournemouth 2026 meetings as required.
To represent and promote the Bournemouth 2026 partnership at key national, regional, sub-regional and local events and meetings.
To liaise between the Bournemouth 2026 partnership, the public, and the Council.
To direct the Bournemouth 2026 Development Manager on the priorities of the Bournemouth Partnership Office.
To carry out 6 monthly performance reviews of the Bournemouth 2026 Development Manager.
The outcomes of this role are:

Demonstrable improvements in partnership working
Partnership is focused on the achievement of Bournemouth Vision 2026
Community Strategy outcomes are achieved
Raised profile of the Partnership.
A positive image of the Partnership will be evident
Quality of life improvements
Effective, strong links with neighbouring LSPs in Poole and Dorset
Standing Orders:

The Chair was appointed by a panel consisting of the members of the Bournemouth 2026 Vision Board (formerly the Bournemouth Partnership Steering Group) and this panel  included the Leader of the Council, the Secretary of the Council and 3 Vision Board members, one from each of the private, public and voluntary & community sector.

The appointment of the Chair was endorsed by the Leader of Bournemouth Council, in line with its responsibility as the accountable body

The chair hold's office for a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 6 years, and the appointment is reviewed annually by the Vision Board and there is one month’s notice (unless otherwise agreed) on either side.
The Chair is accountable to the Bournemouth 2026 Vision Board.

 

BB Intro for Newsletter (.doc) (35 KB)

Bournemouth2026 makes every effort to virus check information made available for download on this site. Bournemouth2026 cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage which may occur from use of downloaded material. We recommend that users check all downloaded materials with their own virus check software.