Backing for Portsmouth development plan

A 15-year plan designed to shape the future of a prominent area in Portsmouth – which includes policies for the major developments of St James’ Hospital and Portsmouth University’s Langstone Campus – has taken a step forward.Milton is home to number of well-known sites in the area, including the Common, the Shoreline, Milton Market and Portsmouth FC’s Fratton Park.Proposals to enable and promote sustainable economic development in the area, as well as boost housing, transport and the wider community, have been drawn up in the Milton Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP).The economy section notes that the goal is to “enable and promote sustainable economic development in Milton and to protect and enhance retail provision, in the interests of maintaining and providing a balanced mix of uses” in the area.The report also stresses that Growth in Milton will be concentrated around the redevelopment of part of the St James’ Hospital site and “possibly part” of Langstone Campus. This would be augmented by the usual smaller-scale incremental development that is “typical of urban areas”.Elsewhere, the document alluded to the “pressure on the area to accommodate more development”.”We need a Neighbourhood Plan which will encourage development that meets the needs of residents, is benign on the local environment, wildlife and on our health and wellbeing, while being economically beneficial to landowners and the city in the long term,” it added.”We want to encourage development contributing to a sense of place which adopts high-quality designs in keeping with what already exists.”The report went to referendum on the 18 of August 2022, with 88.7 per cent of the locals who voted backing the plans.It has now been backed by Portsmouth Council’s Cabinet, with a recommendation that the NDP goes to full the council in a bid to be adopted as part of the Development Plan for Portsmouth.