Plans for new industrial units in Portsmouth are approved

Despite being warned it would exacerbate traffic problems around the Hilsea industrial estate, councillors welcomed Wrenbridge’s plans to bring the site back into use.

‘On balance, I think the employment is a good thing,’ committee chairman Chris Attwell said, proposing the motion to grant planning permission.

Wrenbridge, the Cambridge and London-based property developer, bought the 4.5-acre site between Limberline Road and Norway Road in conjunction with Fiera Real Estate last year for £9m.

Its planning application was submitted in January following months of discussions with council planners in a bid to overcome the concerns around the impact it would have on the surrounding roads.

But the company said the scheme to clear the site and build seven warehouses would generate millions of pounds for the city’s economy and create as many as 210 jobs.

Speaking at Wednesday’s (June 21) committee meeting, Victoria Yeandle, a planner for Barton Willmore, which represents the developer, said it was important to bring the site back into use.

‘This application will bring seven high-quality industrial units, benefitting the local community,’ she said. ‘The site had previously been vacant…not providing any benefits.

‘The scheme has been designed with a high degree of flexibility to enable a wide range of future occupiers to come forward, responding to the market.’

However, objections were made by neighbouring businesses and Hilsea councillors who said the road network would not cope with the extra traffic the development would create.

‘Whilst this proposal has merits, my concern is the same as the surrounding businesses: the infrastructure of our highways,’ councillor Russell Simpson said. ‘A big new development on the estate should leave a lasting positive legacy and not a legacy of further congestion.

He welcomed the new jobs it would create but said there were not enough parking spaces included in the plans and that workers would end up parking in nearby residential roads.

His concerns were echoed by fellow Hilsea councillor Daniel Wemyss and committee member councillor Raymond Dent who said the roads were already ‘a nightmare’.

Despite Cllr Dent’s opposition, the rest of the committee voted to grant planning permission after hearing council highways officers had not objected to the proposals.