Portsmouth buildings will be sold to developer - with a new tower block imminent for city residents

Portsmouth City Council's cabinet is expected to approve the sale - the value of which has not been made public - of its Middle Street property to PVD1 Ltd next week.

'We have been talking to them for a long time, given we own the freehold and they are the leaseholders,' council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said. 'I'm pleased it's not for students and instead is aimed at normal residential housing which is an area which is not well served by the market.

'Income from the buildings is very minimal so purely looking at it financially, this is the right thing to do.'

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Despite including no affordable housing, planning permission for the project was narrowly granted by the council's planning committee last year. It will see a new block, ranging from six to 11 storeys in height, built to house the flats, alongside ground floor commercial units.

The council's property was let out in the wake of the Second World War on long leaseholds at now nominal rents for industrial use, with a minimum of 33 years remaining on each.

The majority of these leaseholds, which the council said gave it an income of less than £300 a year, have already been sold to the developer.

A cabinet report now recommends the freehold be sold which it said would 'demonstrate the council's ability to work with the community and private housing providers to find an equitable solution' for building more housing.

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'As neither the council nor the developer own all the interests required, further land assembly is required by either party to develop the site,' it adds. 'The existing interest based on income is of low value but the site is significant in supporting the regeneration of the area.

'For both parties, the value is in the sites potential redevelopment which cannot be recognised without the cooperation of both parties.'

Due to the lease agreements already in place, the council said timeframes for the next stages of development are out of its - and the developer's - control

But Cllr Vernon-Jackson said he believed PVD1 Ltd wished to progress work 'as quickly as possible'.