"Fantastic" former Debenhams scheme approved for revised parking layout
Portsmouth City councillors have approved changes to one of the city’s “best developments over the last decade”.
The applicants behind Handley’s Corner, the former Debenhams on Palmerston Road, asked the council to scrap the basement car park and re-provide parking elsewhere, with four fewer spaces than originally planned.
Original planning permission included 105 spaces, split between 60 at surface level and 45 in a basement.
Now, applicants St Cross Homes Southsea are seeking to remove the basement car park entirely, replacing it with 90 on-site surface spaces and 12 spaces off Tonbridge Street.
Applicants said structural bracing, reinforced steel joists and a new sprinkler system in the basement has made it “difficult or impossible” to provide a car park there.
Speaking on behalf of St Cross Homes Southsea, planning agent Jonathan McDermott said the site was “incredibly sustainable” with substantial public transport links.
He also responded to concerns from the Portsmouth Cycle Forum about replacing lift access to the basement cycle parking area with stairs, saying the plans would still meet standards set by Cycling England and the Department for Transport.
The development is split into Block A and Block B. Block A is largely complete and includes 98 flats above commercial space, including a vets and the Anytime Fitness gym. Block B, which began construction in October, will provide a further 36 flats.
Mr McDermott said the last few commercial units were still being discussed, with one potentially becoming a “sequence of artist studios” following a proposal from Love Southsea.
He also confirmed the NHS would be moving in to provide a GP surgery “right in the heart of Southsea”.
Councillor Lee Hunt welcomed the “brilliant, stunning development” and invited the applicants to help with the derelict Kwik-save supermarket in North End, saying “nobody will touch it”.
Cllr Judith Smythe said residents regularly stopped her to say: “beautiful building that is”.
She said people saw it as “a huge enhancement to our shopping street” and added: “we can only hope that we can come forward and do the same thing to a Knight and Lee building which is a disgrace to Southsea.”
However, she also placed on record her “considerable disappointment at the lack of affordable or social housing on this site”.
Councillor Joe Standen described the scheme as “fantastic”, saying the building could have ended up like the derelict Debenhams on Commercial Road but was instead turning “into one of the best developments over the last decade.”