Debenhams building in Southsea could be bought by Portsmouth City Council to kickstart redevelopment plans

The move to try and force the hand of the Middle Eastern owner of the building, which already has planning permission and new occupants lined up, was submitted amid fears the unnamed organisation had the financial resources to sit on the empty building for 20 years.

Planning permission to redevelop the site was fully agreed in November 2021. A business case has since also been approved for the relocation of Trafalgar Medical Group Practice to the new ground floor health centre.

‘Negotiations to purchase through agreement have failed to make progress,’ a cabinet report said. ‘The council has reached a position of last resort,’ adding that the ramifications of leaving the building empty were ‘serious’.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Martin Northern, a Southsea resident, and Lib Dem election candidate for the St Jude ward which covers the Palmerston Road site, urged councillors to do all they could to progress a scheme.

‘The area around Debenhams – as it’s been closed so long – has become such a dark and dirty part of the city,’ he said . ‘It’s super important that we, as a council, own the building so that we c an start to clean it up.’

Council’s leader, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, said: ‘Everything is there for this area to be redeveloped and yet the owner has sat on this building and has the financial resources to continue to sit on this building and leave it empty for 20 years,’ he said. ‘This is where the council has to take action.

‘There are three options: either the owner gets on and gets the redevelopment done, they sell it to someone who will get it done or if neither of those are done we have to move to compulsory purchase.’

Councillor Lee Hunt, the cabinet member for planning policy and city development, said the decision to pursue a compulsory purchase order ‘sends out a signal’ that the council is willing to take action.

After winning the unanimous support of the cabinet the order will go to next week’s full council meeting for final sign-off.