Portsmouth has been ‘short-changed’ by Queen’s Hotel ruling

In a battle spanning more than a year Portsmouth City Council has been fighting to prove the Queen's Hotel development should include 30 out of 98 new homes as affordable.

At a planning meeting in August last year councillors unanimously agreed that either 30 affordable homes must be delivered or compensation totalling more than the offered £332,043 should be handed over.

But following an appeal government inspector Andrew Dawe found in favour of the hotel's owners, concluding that affordable homes would not be not financially viable and that £332,043 was acceptable.

Deputy council leader Councillor Steve Pitt slammed the decision. He said: 'I think we have been short-changed by the regional inspector and the developers. £332,000 is not enough to build 30 homes.

'I am very disappointed that we have lost out on affordable housing due to the point of view of a regional inspector who is in Bristol and does not know Portsmouth at all. Yet again the regional inspector has not listened to the local authority.

'The inspector has said that the flats overlooking the sea are worth a lot less than they actually are. He has significantly undervalued the flats.

'Affordable housing should have been provided or more money should be given to the council.'

As part of the £7m scheme developers are set to convert the top floors of the hotel on Clarence Parade into apartments as well as build two new blocks, one seven-storey and one eight-storey, of flats nearby. Both blocks will come with car parking spaces.

Independent Cllr Claire Udy believed the council should keep fighting in the future. 'The result is really disappointing but I am really proud of what the council has done,' she said.

'We did what was totally right in the situation. The thing to take away from this is that £332,000 is not enough to build 30 homes but it is money that will go into the pot for St Jude ward. Hopefully it will be used for a really good project, there's quite a lot of social housing that could be built.

'I am happy that the council stood firm. We need to send out a message that it won't deter us from standing up to developers in the future.'

Planning boss Cllr Ben Dowling added: 'Affordable housing is an essential part of the Portsmouth housing mix. We need to provide homes that local people can afford, which is why it's so important that developers include it in their plans. What has happened in this case is really disappointing.'

The owners of the Queen's Hotel declined to comment.