Next steps revealed for the Southsea sea defences scheme

WITH public consultations for the Southsea sea defences now over the team behind the £100m project are moving on to the next stage.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Sep 2018, 18:38 BST
Updated 6th Sep 2018, 05:43 BST
The first set of public consultations at the Eastney Community CentreThe first set of public consultations at the Eastney Community Centre
The first set of public consultations at the Eastney Community Centre

More than 1,400 local residents filled out the sea defence questionnaire, highlighting their preferred options, and around 1,700 attended the events which were held across the city in July.

During the process 87,000 households were leafleted and over 200,000 people were reached via Facebook.

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Deputy Leader at Portsmouth City Council, Cllr Steve Pitt, said: 'We are delighted that so many people have engaged with the team and have spent considerable time giving their feedback.

'The extra consultation events we asked to be put on meant that residents from across the city had even more chances to get involved and have their say.'

Now the information will be used by councillors to decide the best course of action. A spokesperson for the Southsea Coastal Scheme explained, and said: 'The next step is for the response data to be analysed and then taken to the cross-party working group, who will collectively make a recommendation forward to the cabinet member (Cllr Dave Ashmore) on which options to take forward. A full report on the consultation will be issued towards the end of September.

'We then plan to hold public engagement events in mid-November which will be before we submit our planning application in December, where we will show the public the options that are being taken forward, explain the reasoning behind decisions made and begin to gather their feedback on the detailed design from them (including finishes, street furniture, public art and community involvement).

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'This is the start of an ongoing process which will continue as we go through the different phases of construction - the designs so far are very much a 'blank canvas.''

The new sea defences will protect more than 8,000 homes that are at risk of flooding from Long Curtain Moat to Eastney.

 

Consultation event attendees: more than 1,700

Consultation questionnaire responses: 1,427 (305 written/1,122 online)

Average time taken responding to questionnaires: 25 minutes

Households in PCC area reached: 87,000 (leaflet to every house)

Facebook reach during consultation: 215,034 users

Facebook users that engaged with our content (such as comments and reactions) during consultation: 10,933

Related topics:FacebookSouthseaPortsmouth City CouncilSouthsea Coastal SchemeEastney