Plans to make it easier to convert empty shops into new homes are welcomed by leader of Portsmouth City Council

The vacant unit on the corner of Commercial Road and Arundel Street in Portsmouth is earmarked to host the city's first branch of Wendy's, with separate plans for housing above . Credit: JKR Restaurant

Councillor Steve Pitt said it ‘remained to be seen’ what measures were brought in by Michael Gove but said changes were needed to encourage the conversion of the upper floors of high street buildings into housing.

‘These always used to be flats but now they’re old office or restaurant space that, in some cases, hasn’t been used for decades,’ Cllr Pitt told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

‘The principle of allowing vacant retail space to be converted into housing is good – provided it’s just the upper floors. The last thing we want to see in Commercial Road is a peppering of housing and retail – we need that active retail frontage.’

NOW READ: Plan for flats above restaurant unveiled in Commercial Road

Mr Gove, giving a speech in London, said the government would ‘unequivocally, unapologetically and intensively’ concentrate house building efforts in city centres.

He said new policies would ‘using all of the levers that we have to promote urban regeneration rather than swallowing up virgin land’. His comments followed the publication of a report by the Commons housing committee that found the government was falling short of a pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year.

Cllr Pitt pointed to the work done by Waltham Forest council in London as ‘an excellent example’ of how to revitalise high streets while making use of the upper floors of these buildings for housing.

And in Portsmouth, he said the inclusion of ground floor commercial units were ‘a key feature’ of the planned new Arundel Street student blocks.

‘If you have people living in high streets then you have people shopping in them,’ he said. ‘It’s something we’re keen to do here but it can be very difficult.’

This work is a key aim of the council’s ongoing city centre redevelopment plans, including the Future High Streets bid.

The council has previously attempted to buy empty units in Commercial Road, including the former Burton store which has recently seen plans for its conversion into a ground floor Wendy’s fast food restaurant and upper floor flats submitted, but has been unable to convince the buildings’ owners to sell.

He added that that it was often stubborn landlords rather than planning rules who hindered attempts to make better use of the upper floors of these buildings.

‘Often what we hear from government differs massively from what we get on the ground,’ he said. ‘It remains to be seen what changes are actually made.’