South Western Railway funding to create Pocket Park gateway to Portsmouth station

The space, which sits between the corner of Fawcett Road and Goldsmith Avenue in Fratton, is one of the few green spaces in the area, offering walking and cycling routes and a link for passenger access to the nearby train station.

Plans for the space will include planting, seating, and lighting to create a pocket park gateway to Fratton train station.

It sits within the wider Safer Streets initiative to make Portsmouth a safer place to live, work and visit.

Cllr Steve Pitt, leader of the council said: "We are pleased to see this area has been granted funding for improvements.

"This is a positive step forward to create more green spaces across the city. It's a great opportunity to create a much more functional, and greener, route from the station to the seafront.

"Annually, we see thousands of people use this route, so it is essential that we make the area safe for those travelling in the early morning or late at night."

Maryam Zade, South Western Railway’s Customer and Communities Improvement Fund Manager, said: “Connecting people and communities is at the heart of our business.

"CCIF, our Customer and Communities Improvement Fund, gives us an opportunity to support projects that help to make that connection.

“This project is turning a piece of open space into a Pocket Park to give the local community a new, brighter and safer space for recreation as well as providing improved pedestrian access to Fratton station. We were delighted to support it”.

The South Western Railway Customer and Communities Improvement Fund supports projects that have a community benefit and addresses areas of social need across the network.

The fund paid out more than £35,000 last year for the provision of self service luggage trolleys and associated infrastructure at Portsmouth Harbour Station, adjoining the Wightlink passenger ferry terminal and The Hard Interchange taxi rank.

It also donated £40,000 to the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust for the charity’s Get On Track for Portsmouth and Southampton programme, aimed at young people facing disadvantages in the two cities, with mentoring from the Olympic champion.

Designs for the Pocket Park, meanwhile, have been approved, and work is expected to start next spring.