Residents share mixed emotions over Portsmouth tower block move

“It’s a total disappointment” for some, while others are “looking forward to it” as Portsmouth prepares to rehouse hundreds of residents from four tower blocks.

Residents have expressed mixed reactions to plans to move out of the aging tower blocks after the council proposed retiring four across Portsmouth – and potentially demolishing them.

Portsmouth City Council is considering plans to rehouse residents living in Tipton and Edgbaston House in Somerstown, and Barkis and Nickleby House in Buckland.

The four blocks contain 544 socially rented homes. All residents would be rehoused by 2030 and receive £8,100 as a support package.

Kerry Bryant, who has lived in Barkis House for two years, said it was “a bit of a shock” when the council told her yesterday (27/07/2026).

Asked about being rehoused, she said she was “looking forward to it” because she doesn’t “like living in the tower block” and would prefer “something smaller on the ground floor”.

“I don’t mind a few storeys but it always worries me in case there’s a fire in a block like this.”

While she is happy to move, she said some residents have lived “here since they’ve been put up probably”.

Colin Chambers, who has lived in Nickleby House for 21 years, said his flat “was my first real accommodation”.

He said it was a “total disappointment” to be told about the plans yesterday, adding that he’s “worried” about moving at the age of 82, particularly as he lives in sheltered accommodation.

“I was lovely when I moved in because it was only over-50s but it has changed, it’s not as nice as it once was. There’s children now, they have to have a place I suppose but children aren’t really for tower blocks I don’t think, although this one does have a garden.

“I’m a volunteer Portsmouth tree warden so I’d like to stay in the area. In my stage in life you don’t want to move for whatever money.”

Another Nickleby House resident, Sharon Wainwright, has lived in the block for 10 years. Asked if she was attached to her flat, she said: “no not really.”

“I want to move out, I want somewhere on the ground floor because I’ve got a little dog.”

She said she would prefer to stay in Buckland as her daughter visits to help care for her because of her Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, was relocated from Leamington House, which was demolished alongside Horatia House in the summer of 2022.

“What can you say, they’re perfectly good flats, they’re bigger than the new one but they’re past their use-by date,” he said.

He described the plans as “urban clearance, it’s part of progress but it’s frustrating”.

Another anonymous resident, who has lived in Barkis House for four years, said he “doesn’t really mind” but was relieved to be moving away from the persistent drug use and bed bug outbreaks he has experienced in the block.

However, he said he and his wife regularly look after “a few elderly residents in the block, we want to be kept relatively close to the area and close to the people that we help because they rely on us to get their medication and do some shopping for them.

“As long as it’s in the Portsmouth area I don’t really care – you’ve got to start fresh somewhere.”

He did express disappointment that he could be moving away from the city centre and the nearby shops. He said that as his partner is disabled, moving could be a “nightmare” and that other council blocks do not have lifts.

Another anonymous resident, who has lived in Nickleby House for 15 years, said the council was between a “rock and a hard place” but hoped that “everybody gets somewhere they want” at the end of the process.

“For me personally it’s no issue at all, not only that they’re going to bung me a bit of money that makes my life easier.”

Cllr Darren Sanders, cabinet member for housing, will make the decision to decommission the blocks on August 5.