PROPOSALS have been lodged for a children’s play café and a doggy day care at a theme park going through a ‘restructuring process’.

Two separate planning applications have been submitted for new facilities at the Adventure Wonderland site in Hurn.

Bruces Pet Care's application requests permission for the redevelopment of existing stables and land at the theme park to provide a doggy day care centre.

If approved, the buildings would be demolished and replaced with a new purpose built reception building, with the rest of the land providing outdoor space for the dogs to run and play.

The doggy day centre would not provide overnight boarding and would operate between 7.30am and 6pm Monday to Friday.

A planning statement prepared by Planning Property Servics Ltd on behalf of the applicant said: “In recent years the theme park has struggled to meet rising operational and maintenance costs and these have been well publicised.

"As a result Adventure Wonderland is going through a restructuring process in order to address these issues, and this application represents a part of this process.

"In summary the application site is of relatively little value to the park, but has the potential to release important funds which can be then invested into its future operations.”

Another application, by Discovery Village Ltd, requests permission to convert two vacant buildings into a café and children’s play village.

The play area proposed would take the form of a ‘village’ with various themed rooms, and pre-booked themed play sessions would be provided for children up to the age of seven.

According to plans, the play village would take up around half of the former theatre building with the remaining half forming a café serving drinks and light refreshments.

Bournemouth Echo: Merritown House with the former theatre building to the rightMerritown House with the former theatre building to the right (Image: Pure Town Planning)

The smaller building, accessed by new link from the café, would contain toilets, a small office and a dedicated party room to enable children’s parties to be catered away from the main café.

A planning statement prepared by Pure Town Planning on behalf of Discovery Village said: “The proposal will not materially change the amount or scale of built development nor the layout or landscaping of the site.

“The changes to the appearance of the buildings will be minimal and designed to integrate with the appearance of the existing buildings.”

Once open, the children’s play café would be accessed from the existing theme park access and parking area.

Both applications are yet to be determined by BCP Council.