Council votes to halt Tipner West reclaimed-land housing plan

The RSPB and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust had called for the Tipner West development to be stopped

A planned housing development in Portsmouth, which has been criticised by conservationists, is to be "paused" following a council vote.

The £1bn "super peninsula" proposed at Tipner by Portsmouth City Council would have seen up to 4,000 homes built.

Groups, including the RSPB, said the site was "internationally important" for wildlife.

Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said the city still faced "difficult decisions" over housing.

A combined Labour and Conservative opposition motion calling for all work to be "paused and rethought" was passed by the full council, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Portsmouth City Council proposed creating a "super-peninsula" by reclaiming land from the sea

Labour councillor Cal Corkery, who proposed the motion, said people wanted affordable homes "without the mass environmental destruction".

Mr Vernon-Jackson, leader of the Liberal-Democrat minority administration, said: "The message is clear: the council does not have confidence in this project and as far as I'm concerned it now won't happen."

He warned it would leave the council having to find alternative locations to build 2,250 houses and he raised the possibility of building 30-storey residential blocks to meet the target.

"It might be that if councillors see the alternative plans they may change their minds," he added.

A petition against the Tipner development by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and the RSPB has been signed more than 24,000 times.

They had warned plans for the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI) would destroy feeding and roosting grounds for wintering waterbirds.

Trust chief executive Dabbie Tann said: "The council must now remove the land reclamation plans from the Local Plan and finally scrap this ecologically-damaging vanity project."