D-Day 75: Cars left on closed roads will be removed, Portsmouth residents warned

Portsmouth will be the focal point of the UK’s celebrations for the anniversary of the Normandy Landings, including playing host to a major ceremony on Wednesday.

The Queen, the Prime Minister and President Donald Trump will all attend the event on Southsea Common next week.

Due to the heavy security protocols being implemented for the ceremony next week, there will be a number of road closures in place.

Portsmouth City Council have warned residents that any cars left on roads with hard closures will be removed.

What is a hard closure and which roads will be shut?

The council have said that these are road closures that use security barriers to prevent all vehicle access.

These are called 'hard road closures' and are designed to stop any vehicles from getting close to the event site.

This includes vehicles belonging to people living and working in the area.

The closures will come into place from 8am on Tuesday, June 4, and will remain until it is safe to reopen them on June 5 – with residents warned they could last all day.

Here is the full list of roads which will be shut:

- Pier Road

- Gordon Road

- Pembroke Road at the very eastern end

- Western Parade

- Duisburg Way

- Clarence Parade west of Palmerston Rd

- Avenue de Caen

- Auckland Road West between Clarence Parade and the Apsley House

- Clarence Esplanade

- Jack Cockerill Way

- The Dell

Vehicles will be removed

The city council have warned residents that you won't be able to park on roads with hard closures.

They have also said that they will have to remove parked cars that are left along the roads after 8am on Tuesday, June 4.

This means if you usually park somewhere that will have a hard road closure in place, you will need to find an alternative location to park during this time.

Vehicles left in the following car parks after 12.01am on Monday, June 3, will also be removed:

- Clarence Pier

- Seafront, The Esplanade

- D-Day Story Museum

- Southsea Common

- Pyramids

What alternative parking will be in place?

With residents unable to park on roads included in the hard closures from 8am on June 4, the council have revealed that alternative parking options will be in place.

All the road closures are within the KC residents' parking zone.

Anyone with a KC zone permit can park for free in any council pay-and-display car park or pay-and-display spaces on roads, other than areas where parking is suspended and the Museum Road coach bays.

The council are also offering this to people with a permit for Clarence Pier car park or the Seafront The Esplanade car park as they will be closed.

This free parking will be available from midday on Friday (May 31) until midday next Thursday (June 6), by which time the roads will all be open again.

The additional permit parking is for pay-and-display spaces only, it does not allow parking in other resident parking zones.

Will you be affected by the hard road closures next week? Let us know in the comments below.