North End supermarket to be fenced-off to deter persistent fly-tipping with talks to turn the site into flats

The former Kwik Save supermarket in Stubbington Avenue has been derelict for more than a decade, attracting large piles of fly-tipped rubbish.

This August saw sofas, mattresses, and even old underwear dumped on the site next to the footpath.

After the rubbish was cleaned up in September, fly-tipping began again only last month – with bags of gravel and soiled clothing strewn all across the front of the old superstore.

Now the council has issued a notice demanding the owner puts up fencing to deter fly-tippers before Christmas.

Council officers have met with the building’s owner to discuss a potential planning application to turn the site into flats.

Josh Williams, who has lived next to the site since 2015, said he battled a ‘relentless’ stream of rubbish blowing into his drive away – and he is ‘not optimistic’ about the fencing proposal.

Josh said: ‘Every day we have to keep sweeping up rubbish. We get so much that blows into our driveway.

‘I don’t see how they are going to secure the perimeter.

‘There’s been dead pigeons hanging down from the window. The whole thing is a state.’

Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt wrote to residents about the planned fencing and the MP says she wants to see more action from the council to turn-around the site’s fortunes.

The MP said: ‘Dilapidated buildings really bring down the feel of an area.

‘I’m glad action has now been taken following my office’s intervention regarding the Kwik Save – but I want to see more action from the council, working with the building owners to develop and improve the area.’

But Portsmouth councillor Lee Hunt, chairman of the council’s planning committee, says officers and councillors are working hard to have the supermarket redeveloped – with hopes the owner will put in a planning application soon.

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The Liberal Democrat councillor said: ‘It’s already in the local plan and designated for 30 flats.

‘We have managed to get (the owner) and council officers to meet up and they’re discussing coming forward with a planning application – but having said that, we have been here before.’

The Nelson ward councillor said the site’s previous use as a petrol station could make any redevelopment plans ‘complex’.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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