Portsmouth area historic sites 'at risk' of being lost or degrading with several named on Historic England list

A total of 31 nearby locations have been named by the association on the Heritage At Risk Register. These historic buildings could potentially be lost through ‘neglect, decay or development, or are vulnerable to becoming so’. Sites have been graded A-F in terms of priority of restoration and their conditions are usually deemed as ‘fair’, ‘poor’, ‘very poor’.

Councillor Steve Pitt, cabinet member for culture, leisure and economic development, said maintaining cultural sites is vitally important.

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‘A tourism destination economy is crucial to us and it would be silly not to want to maximise, look after and properly curate our historic assets, but it always has to be within that funding envelope,’ he told The News. ‘Historic England give out modest grants to a limited number of organisations because they did not get enough core funding from the government. There is an awful lot more to do and millions of pounds required to do everything we would ideally want to do to the buildings we have jurisdiction over.’

Overall, 15 sites are listed in Portsmouth, alongside Gosport, 12, Havant, 2, and Fareham, 2. The places earmarked as being the most in need include the Grade II listed Fort Fareham in Newgate Lane – A priority and poor condition – Fort Elson in Military Road, Gosport, Fort Purbrook and the scheduled monument at Hilsea Lines formally referred to as Bastion 5.

Historic England said in the register that opportunities are being explored to manage the monument, owned by multiple parties, by Portsmouth City Council. They added the central section of the site, comprising three quarters of the Centre Bastion and the west side of East Centre Curtain, are continuing to suffer from heritage crime, a lack of regular maintenance and very limited access to the site.

Some previously listed sites have been restored, including the Grade II* listed former police barracks at the entrance of Haslar Gunboat Yard. Cllr Pitt, of the Liberal Democrats, said the council will continue to work with Historic England to maintain and restore at risk sites when and where they can.

He added: ‘We want people to come to Portsmouth and for us to show off the historic buildings we have. So many were lost during the Second World War, so it is important we nurture the buildings we still have.

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‘However you want to dress it up, it is always going to be the government that has to allocate funding properly to maintain vital assets of historic importance, owned by councils and other partners across the country, and they don’t, that’s just a fact. There is never anywhere near like enough money put into this.

‘The Conservative government does not care about our heritage. They do not fund Historic England with the assets it needs, because they do not think it’s important.’

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said: ‘As the threat of climate change grows, the reuse and sensitive upgrading of historic buildings and places becomes ever more important. Finding new uses for buildings and sites rescued from the Register avoids the high carbon emissions associated with demolishing structures and building new.’

Further information can be found on the Historic England website.