Portsmouth councillors are 'barrier' to city hitting housing targets, claims planning chairman

Lee Hunt said those who criticised the Liberal Democrat administration for failing to meet government targets while also voting against major schemes 'can't have their cake and eat it'.

'We had complaints last week that the council was not delivering on these housing targets and here we have an application for 163 flats and it might go under,' he said at Wednesday's committee meeting.

'If the planning committee is going to start becoming the barrier then you can't blame the administration when it's trying to deliver these houses.'

The outline application for PVD1 Ltd's Middle Street development was narrowly approved, despite concerns about the quality of the proposals.

The plans included the construction of the new block of flats with ground floor commercial units ranging from six to 11 storeys in height.

Zero affordable homes are included after a viability assessment found the scheme would be unprofitable with them.

The proposals had been opposed by Sunrise Stained Glass, based in one of the buildings in line to make way for the development, which said there was a 'chronic shortage' of places for the business to move to.

'We have worried for years about the impact the development of Middle Street would have on us and have looked for alternatives,' Alex Tarrant, the son of the company's owners said. 'Every available site is developed into yet more flats. Nothing we viewed was close to viable.'

Despite his comments, councillors agreed to approve the development, in line with the recommendations of council planning officers.

'I sympathise with [the business] but a lot of decisions are going to have to be made that are unpopular,' Cllr Hunt said. 'But there's a national policy that's obliging us to consider these sorts of proposals for taller buildings.'

The council has been told to build 17,700 new homes in the city over the next 15 years, although councillors have consistently opposed the 'unrealistic' target.

The committee's decision is 'conditional' on the outcome of an appeal launched by the developer over council delays in deciding the application, which was submitted almost three years ago.

Councillors agreed to include a 'review mechanism' which would allow the council to reassess the feasibility of the development providing affordable homes once construction starts.