Plans to bring communal barbecue space to Southsea

The owners of the putting greens, on Avenue De Caen, want to turn the attraction into a space for picnic tables, barbecue pits, a play area and a building to sell refreshments.

An initial planning application had been submitted to Portsmouth City Council but it was withdrawn with owner of the Putting Greens and applicant James Ralls wanting to look back over the proposal.

It comes as the plans had people both for and against it.

James, who helps run Victorious Festival in Southsea, said: ‘We noticed that loads of people were using the disposable barbecues on the common and burning holes in the grass.

‘We thought about supplying grills for them to go on but decided to do it properly.

‘The putting green isn’t well used and we thought we could utilise the space to have a communal barbecue area seeing as there’s not a place like that already on offer in Southsea.

‘We submitted the application and there were concerns raised about the number of barbecue pits and them being close to the play area so we have withdrawn the application and are looking into the finer details.

‘What we don’t want is to provide something residents aren’t happy with.’

James said he would still like the plan to include picnic benches, a play area for children, barbecues that people can rent and a stall selling meats, salads and drinks.

He added: ‘The idea is people will rent the barbecue and we will have it ready for when they arrive and then they can bring their own food or buy it from us.

‘There will also be a picnic area so people don’t even need to use the barbecues.’

The application to Portsmouth City Council has been withdrawn with another expected to be submitted in the next few weeks.

James hopes, if they get approval, to have the facility ready for next summer.

‘An application can take at least six weeks to be approved so we wouldn’t want to rush it for this summer,’ he said.

‘If it gets agreed, we will aim to get it done for next summer.’