Portsmouth sea defence work designs approved

Planning documents said the design approach for Southsea Common "connects people and place"

A new stage of Portsmouth's coastal defence scheme has been given the go ahead, despite fears it would act as a skatepark "all along the seafront".

Defences are being built along a 2.8-mile (4.5km) section of coast, aimed at protecting 4,000 homes at direct risk from rising sea levels.

The city's planning committee raised concerns about landscaping, public art and the design of the seating.

Members were told metal studs and armrests would prevent their misuse.

As one of the UK's lowest lying cities, Portsmouth is particularly vulnerable to flooding as sea levels rise due to climate change.

The committee discussed design elements of the fourth phase of the Southsea coastal scheme, which stretches between Long Curtain Moat and Eastney.

Committee member Gerald Vernon-Jackson said the design of the benches was "an absolute invitation to ride scooters up them".

But he withdrew a request for them to be redesigned when it was pointed out they would have metal studs, and that armrests would discourage skateboarders and scooter riders.

Council officers said the benches were designed to reflect the "windswept nature of the coastal environment".

Listed monuments would be "carefully dismantled and stored while the works are carried out", the authority said

Initial plans had been for feature walls to showcase work by local artists but the committee heard these would be delivered by the council's culture department.

Another member Judith Smyth raised doubt as to whether the council could deliver art installations "given the parlous state of public finances".

"The sea defence team should be really proud of the fact that people like what's being done so much that they're not picking up on the agreements that there were about art," she said.

Listed monuments, such as the Shannon Naval Brigade, Trafalgar Memorial, Trident Memorial, Aboukir Memorial and Chesapeake Memorial, would be carefully dismantled and stored while the works are carried out.

Permission was granted for the overall scheme in December 2019.

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