Controversial plans to demolish The News Centre in Hilsea are approved by council despite campaign to save building

The planning application submitted by First Bus, which is planning to redevelop the London Road site into a “super bus depot” having completed its purchase earlier this year, allows the site to be cleared under permitted development rules.

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Dozens of people, including all three Hilsea councillors, objected to the proposed demolition of the building, particularly the facade panels designed by William Mitchell.

Tarek Teba, a reader in architectural heritage at the University of Portsmouth said the building needed to be reused rather than demolished.

“The News Centre’s curved front façade is a unique example of modern architecture in the city and with its surrounding landscape presents a monumental and impressive gateway building,” he said in his objection.

“In addition, the building contains additional tangible and intangible heritage features…such as the elegant three-storey crescent plan with exposed concrete frame and blue mosaic facing, the large central panel with gold mosaic lettering and the printing and distribution range behind with crinkly roofed canopies and cast-concrete decorative panels by William Mitchell.”

But the council, approving the application last week, said there were no planning reasons to reject the demolition, paving the way for the construction of the new base for the bus company’s electric fleet.

The report granting planning permission said: “The potential of either of the requests to ‘locally list’ the building or impose an Article 4 Directon to impact the retention of the building or prevent its demolition lies outside of the scope of the prior approval process.

“My understanding is strictly limited to regulating the details of any demolition works in order to minimise the impact of that activity on local amenity.

“In response to this, the applicant is required to provide a method of demolition, and any proposed works for restoration of the site before any development work commences. These have been provided.

“As such, it is not possible as part of this process to consider the architectural and/or historic merits of any buildings that have been identified for removal.”

The demolition statement, written by Janus Architecture on behalf of First Bus, proposes the clearance of all buildings on the site ahead of work to create the new depot starting.

“It is hoped that the demolition can start in early August with an anticipated demolition period of approximately 24 weeks,” it says. “It is hoped that the demolition can be completed by the end of the year.”

Speaking earlier this month, Simon Goff, the managing director of First Bus South, said it was “unviable” to keep the building.

“There are very specific requirements for a project of this kind, and there was no evidence of the News Centre building being listed or targeted for preservation, which supported our desire to purchase the site,” he said. “The former News Centre has been empty for some time now and is in a state of disrepair, which has become a magnet for vandalism and antisocial behaviour.”

However, he said the company was planning to “preserve some historical parts of the building and reuse them at the new depot” with these being finalised once plans are further progressed.