"Unsafe" Milton Cemetery lodge is dismantled to create more burial space in the city

The lodge, has been empty for over a decade as cemetery managers no longer live on site and for safety reasons cannot be used as an office for the cemeteries team. It sits at the entrance to the cemetery, with the cemeteries office relocated to New Road Lodge in Kingston Cemetery.

However, once cleared the space can used for burials - creating more space at a time when developing a new cemetery in the city is difficult due to lack of available sites.

A spokesperson for Portsmouth City Council explained: “The lodge at Milton Cemetery was not safe for use and was no longer fit for purpose. It is not a listed building and after exploring many options, we took the decision to carefully dismantle the lodge. This will create additional space for burials, which is important because there is limited cemetery space in Portsmouth, and no suitable space has been identified for a new one.

"The work to dismantle the lodge is currently underway and we expect it to be completed before the end of the year. This is being handled sensitively to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum and Milton Cemetery remains fully open to visitors. We anticipate the extra space created will be available for burials within five or six years, depending on demand and use of other areas in the cemetery.

"This is part of our wider project to improve the city's cemeteries and ensure there's enough space for future burials, which includes investing £265,000 to restore important listed cemetery buildings of historical value."

Meanwhile, The Dissenter's Chapel in Highland Road Cemetery has been undergoing much-needed work as part of a £65,000 project which will see repairs being made to the roof, walls, rendering and floor joists.

Portsmouth City Council is also planning an investment of £200,000 to restore the Grade II listed neo-Gothic West Chapel in Kingston Cemetery, which will bring this building back into use.