Kingston Prison in Portsmouth to become 267 flats

A £49m plan to develop a disused Victorian prison into 267 flats has been approved by councillors.The site of the former Kingston Prison in Milton Road, Portsmouth, will also see a shop and restaurant being built.The plans include 347 parking spaces, and 183 of the new flats will be classified as affordable homes.Work is expected to start in the summer. An opposition councillor cited concerns that there is currently no provision for social housing.The Ministry of Justice sold the prison in 2014 after it was closed in 2013 to cut costs.Portsmouth City Council set as an essential requirement that affordable homes must be built at the site.Vivid Homes, a provider of affordable homes, has joined developers City and Country in the project.’Historic building’Addressing the council’s planning meeting on Wednesday, Donna Jones, leader of the opposition Conservative group, said: “This is a large-scale planning application, one of the largest we have got at the moment, with no requirement for social housing at all.