The private sector-led regeneration scheme aims to deliver 2,300 homes and green spaces

Work on an ambitious project to regenerate the heart of Portsmouth could start in 2029 after the council signed off an “optimistic” step forward in the plans.

The city centre north scheme has moved a step closer to becoming reality after Portsmouth City Council agreed to work with placemaking collective English Cities Fund (ECF).

The council will enter into a Development Management Services Agreement (DMSA) with ECF, allowing work to begin on a business case and delivery strategy.

The authority hopes to transform the northern end of the city centre after the scheme, one of the largest regeneration projects on the south coast, secured planning permission in autumn 2023.

The plans include 2,300 homes, up to 10,000 square metres of non-residential space and 22,400 square metres of new green space and public areas.

In response to a question from councillor Hugh Mason about timescales, officers said the DMSA should be completed by the end of 2026 and that the first spade could hit the ground in 2029, or possibly sooner.

Cllr Mason then asked how local government reorganisation, which would merge councils in Portsmouth, Havant, Fareham and Gosport, could affect the project.

It has been suggested the new authority would inherit a £67m deficit from Hampshire County Council on the first day of its operation.

Officers said the project is “private sector-led so the requirement for funding capital from this or a successor council will be significantly limited”.

They added the scheme is one of Hampshire’s highest-priority regeneration projects and should attract support from the new devolved authority covering Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.

Council leader Cllr Steve Pitt said efforts to regenerate the city centre had suffered a series of “false starts” dating back to 2005.

He backed plans to bring more housing into the city centre, adding: “If you want to revitalise commercial road you need footfall for it so you need people to live there.”

He said his grandparents had lived on Edinburgh Road in the city centre, where they did all of their shopping locally.

“At some point in the 1950s town planners and companies decided that was all a thing of the past and that people wanted lots of physical shops and the world’s changed again.”

He described the DMSA as an “is a step forward, an optimistic one” and reminded the cabinet: “There will be detailed design work and planning consents for each individual building as it’s brought forward and the site will need to masterplanned in detail.”