Summer work scheduled to bring safe standing to Portsmouth's Fratton End - and finally unlock Milton End facilities

Owners Tornante have this week given the green light for work to begin on installing an initial 500 new rail seats once the season is over.

It involves the back five rows of the Fratton End – and is expected to be completed before the start of the 2023-24 campaign.

Before work commences, those supporters impacted by the plans will be contacted by the Blues over the next few weeks to gauge their thoughts.

Andy Cullen revealed the aim is for fans to be able to stand in allocated sections of the Fratton End before the end of 2023.

Rail seating is already in the Milton End, although Pompey require a licence from the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) to be able to use both stands for standing purposes.

Although Cullen insists that particular timeframe is out of their hands.

Pompey’s chief executive told The News: ‘We are ready to begin the process of looking to install seats in the back five rows of the Fratton End.

‘We will now start a consultation process with those affected over the next two or three weeks, seeing whether they are comfortable with rail seating - and starting to look at alternative arrangements for anybody who isn’t.

‘Installing the seats is quite a big process, but we’ll have them ready for the start of next season.

‘There are 75 seats in a row. The top two rows effectively would not need rails, while the three below would. That would give us just under 500 seats to start with.

‘Over the next 18 months, we would also look to extend another 10 rows down to get us into a situation where we can successfully satisfy requirements of the safety authorities in respect of persistent standing in the Fratton area, which potentially affects our capacity.

‘Although the first five rows of rail seating will be ready for the start of next season, we still need a licence. Like the Milton End, we can’t use them until certified by the SGSA.

‘Up and running within 2023 is certainly our aim, but that's not necessarily all within our control – and that’s the unknown factor.’

Railing seating in the Milton End has been available to supporters since the visit of Forest Green Rovers on April 1.

As part of licensing demands, additional safe standing must also be installed in home sections of the ground – prompting the forthcoming Fratton End work.

Cullen added: ‘For safety authorities to determine whether they grant the licence, various engineering tests have to take place, such as looking at sightlines and access behind the seats.

‘In the event we don’t get our licence as quickly as we’d like, rail seating can still be used purely as seats, as we’re doing in the Milton End, until we can satisfy conditions.

‘We’re working with the safety authorities, who are very pleased we’ve reacted to the issue of persistent standing at Fratton Park, mainly at the top of the Fratton End and with away supporters in the Milton End.

‘If we didn’t do something, then we could have had our capacity impacted, which would be daft after all the work into increasing capacity.’