Portsmouth City Centre North: Historic England objects to demolition plans for Victorian buildings

The organisation has called on Portsmouth City Council to delay its planning application to allow alternatives to the demolition of buildings in Pye Street and Commercial Road to be considered.

Many of the buildings south and west of Marketway Roundabout have been earmarked to be cleared for part of the City Centre North development of more than 2,000 homes and 10,000sqm of other facilities.

The outline planning application, for which detailed designs would need separate approval before any work can start, was submitted by the council last summer and more than £4m was allocated in the budget approved last month to progress the project.

The council said the scheme would bring forward the regeneration of an area that has long been identified for redevelopment.

Only three objections have been made by members of the public to the application which, the council’s cabinet member for economic development councillor Steve Pitt, showed the level of support for the concept.

However, Historic England has joined them and said its objection would continue to stand unless the plans were revised.

‘The proposed development seeks whole-scale demolition of the site, but for St Agatha’s Church, for the construction of 2,300 housing units, commercial units and a new park,’ it said. ‘Historic England identifies harm to the significance of a number of heritage assets and the potential for harm to a number of others from the proposals.

‘In our view this harm is not justified and could be greatly reduced through changes in design,’ it added calling for the application to be delayed.

It added that a development could ‘positively transform the area’ and improve the ‘detrimental setting of St Agatha’s Church’ but said this did not outweigh the harm the demolition of buildings would create.

Cllr Pitt said the council would ‘listen’ to the concerns raised by Historic England as it progresses the planning application but said the development would be ‘hugely beneficial’.

‘It’s a huge application with lots of complexities and is still only in outline form so there aren’t those detailed concepts yet,’ he said. ‘But we are keen to get things moving because what we’re trying to do – in conjunction with our work to move out of the Civic Offices to the south – is to create a positive nexus to benefit the whole of Commercial Road.

‘Some of those buildings we don’t own but we have always listened and will consider the points raised by Historic England.’

The council had set a December deadline for reaching a decision on the planning application but this has been extended. In January, Southern Water requested more details be provided around sewage arrangements.

This month Cllr Steve Pitt restated the council’s desire to move out of the Civic Offices in Guildhall Square as the building is now too big for the authority’s staff. The council hopes a combination of City Centre North and a repurposed Guildhall Square will help to revitalise Portsmouth.