Plans to redvelop St James' Hospital in Portsmouth will go before planning inspectorate

The application will not be decided at next Wednesday’s meeting on December 21 – due to an appeal that was lodged by developer PJ Livesey over the delay – but councillors will be asked to agree that they would have refused permission.

A report published ahead of the meeting says the firm has still not provided enough information on environmental mitigation measures and that this should be considered by the government’s planning inspectorate. It said this raised doubts over viability assessments used to justify no affordable housing in the scheme.

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The council’s leader, and Milton ward councillor, Gerald Vernon-Jackson said this marked a ‘hugely important’ milestone for campaigners opposed to the development.

The application, which was submitted in February 2020, proposes converting hospital buildings and the chapel into 151 homes, alongside the construction of 58 new homes as part of a £55m project.

In August last year, the firm said it was ‘frustrated’ by the delay in reaching a decision and that it was costing the NHS £1.6m a year to maintain the site. Its appeal was prompted came a year later – eight months after the deferral was agreed.

A date has yet to be set for a decision on the appeal.

At the January committee meeting, councillors decided more time was needed to consider the affordable housing provision, the design, the loss of trees and ‘highway implications’ of the development, which more than 100 people have objected to.

Despite this, council planning officers said there was still missing information, including a revised viability assessment for affordable housing.

‘In the absence of sufficient information being provided for the Habitats Regulations Assessment, as requested by Natural England, there is no certainty around the mitigation strategy which is required to address the likely significant effects in respect of recreational disturbance identified,’ their report says.

‘Furthermore, insufficient viability justification has been provided, noting the uncertainty arising from the cost of mitigation, to demonstrate that the scheme is unable to provide affordable housing.’

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Cllr Vernon-Jackson said the shift from the recommendation to approve the scheme at the beginning of the year to refusing it now would strengthen efforts to fight the appeal.

‘The appeal is looking at areas of concern raised by the committee in January when it deferred a decision,’ he said. ‘If the committee does decide to refuse the it next week, on the back of the recommendation to do so, then that really helps our officers fight it.’

When approached by The News, PJ Livesey declined to comment on the recommendations that hve been made in the report.

Should the planning committee decide top support these recommendations, a two-weak public inquiry is scheduled to take place in April next year as part of the appeal. A decision on the application would then be made in the following months by the government planning inspector.