Hundreds to leave homes as four tower blocks close

A Portsmouth councillor has described plans to close four tower blocks and rehouse hundreds of residents as the “least worst option” facing the council.

Portsmouth City Council has decided to close four tower blocks in Buckland and Somerstown, with all residents to be rehoused by 2030.

Of the 22 tower blocks the council owns as a landlord, five have been subject to “enhanced structural investigations” because they were built using a large panel system, a construction method popular in the 1960s.

One of those blocks, Wilmcote House, underwent works completed in 2019 and has been identified as a long-term viable asset for the council.

The specialist investigations, carried out in line with regulations introduced after the Grenfell tragedy, found Barkis and Nickleby House in Buckland, and Tipton and Edgbaston House in Somerstown, require works.

The investigations found “no evidence of immediate structural instability" but said “strengthening works” are needed to “meet modern expectations alongside general fire safety improvements”.

The works required to strengthen the buildings would be “extremely intrusive” for residents, who would need to be rehoused for two years.

The work would cost £35m per block and would only extend the lifespan of the buildings by around 20 years.

When borrowing and repayment costs are taken into account alongside lost rental income, the council estimates a cumulative deficit of between £143m and £155m across all four blocks.

For those reasons, the council does not consider the works to provide “long term value for money” from an asset management perspective.

Speaking at the meeting, Edgbaston House resident Areen Saeed said the tower block represents “20 years” of his family's life, history and identity.

He asked the council to reconsider the decision to decommission the blocks, arguing: “Communities like this cannot be designed by architects, they are built slowly, patiently through trust, kindness and shared experience.

“Once that community is scattered, it cannot simply be rebuilt and we see that with Leamington and Horatia house”.

He asked the council whether it “measures progress only by the buildings we replace” or by "communities we continue to preserve”.

Council tenant Nicola Masters raised concerns about the impact the decant would have on the housing register, which she said she has been “trapped” on “for years”.

She lives in a two-bedroom maisonette where four young children share one bedroom.

She suggested the decision to displace the 544 households across the four blocks would consume the council's “microscopic turnover” of available housing stock.

In response, an officer confirmed “there will be an impact on the housing register” but said “those already on the register with an urgent level of priority will not be overlooked as a result”.

Councillor Mary Vallely encouraged residents “to ask for what you needs because they will do their best but if you don’t ask and you don’t say, you won’t get.”

Cllr Sam Coupland, member for Charles Dickens ward, said he believes the housing team “have approached this situation with a thorough and thought out and compassionate approach at every opportunity”.

He highlighted that only 22 households were still waiting for a face-to-face conversation with the team, with officers confirming that figure had since fallen to around 15 because some residents were on holiday.

Explaining his decision, Cllr Darren Sanders, cabinet member for housing, said: “Telling someone they have to leave their home is awful. I know - I've had to do it, I had to do it to my own mother who lived in Horatia.

“She did stop crying after 15 minutes because it was her home.

“To ignore the human consequence of this is absolutely stupid.

“Having been through this eight years ago in a personal set of circumstances I really never want to do it again because I know the pain, I know the human impact, I know the breaking of social bonds, I know the impact on the housing register.

“But we’re here again because we’ve got four blocks that are approaching the end of their natural life at a time when buildings standards are thankfully more stringent.”

He said he had been presented with three “lousy choices”. The first was to carry out the works while residents remained in their homes, something he said would make their lives “hell on earth every day”.

The second was to move residents out temporarily to allow the works to take place, which would require a faster decant than the four-year programme currently proposed and would only extend the buildings' lifespan by 20 years.

He described the third option, the one being proposed, as the “least worst option”.

He welcomed the prime minister's call to make building social housing a top priority.

The council also agreed to begin feasibility studies on the sites to assess the potential for building new housing blocks, similar to the Somers Orchard development, which is due to be completed in 2030 on the site of the former Leamington and Horatia blocks.

He said: “I hope we can put in place something that will last for decades or longer to come and that is the only way we can give people who are facing real pain some hope for the future.”

Residents were contacted last week ahead of the decision and will now be contacted again to discuss their housing needs and support before joining the Portsmouth Housing Register.

Residents will be added in phases to reduce pressure on the housing system, with all moves expected to take around four years.