D-Day 75: Fencing has started to go up around Southsea Common ahead of D-Day 75 anniversary

Portsmouth will be the national focal point of the Normandy Landing anniversary commemorations next month. 

A ceremony will be held on Southsea Common on June 5 which will be attended by the Queen, President Donald Trump, the Prime Minister, veterans and other world leaders. 

The event will see heightened security measures put in place throughout the city over the coming weeks. 

These include two separate fences which will be built around Southsea Common for the D-Day anniversary celebrations. 

Fencing will stretch around the entirety of Southsea Common from Pier Road to the Pyramids Centre as a first security perimeter.

Anyone wishing to pass through this fence will be required to undergo security checks. 

Then there will be a second, solid steel two-layered fence which will surround the war memorial and only people with invites will be able to pass through it to witness the ceremony on June 5. 

Work to install these fences on Southsea Common has already begun with the fences beginning to spring up in the area yesterday. 

On the D-Day information for users of the common issued by Portsmouth City Council, it warns that parts of the area will be inaccessible from May 20 while the site is built and secured. 

In a post on Facebook, Hampshire Constabulary wrote: ‘Some of you would have noticed this morning that Southsea Common is starting to look a little different than normal ahead of D-Day 75.

‘We're out and about on patrol. If you have any questions just come over and ask.’ 

Events for the 75th anniversary of the Normandy Landings will take place across the city at the start of June. 

Including the ceremony on June 5 as well as a revival festival between Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, June 9, featuring 1940s music and dancing.