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Petition

ePetition details

Reject Portsmouth City Council's proposed housing target

We the undersigned petition the council to (1000 characters): The undersigned reject Portsmouth City Council’s (PCC) proposed housing target of 14,560 – 17,000 new homes in the emerging Portsmouth Plan to 2034.

For the following reasons:
Although the PCC are demanding government financial support for the infrastructure regarding the 6,000 additional homes planned from 2027 to 2034, this same principle is not being applied to the development of 8,387 homes up to 2027. This inconsistent approach is not acceptable given that there is a clear lack of infrastructure support for the housing estates already being built around St James, Milton, for example. Consultation exercises with PCC and the Housing Community Association (HCA) have not resolved this lack of infrastructure.
The transport situation is rapidly reaching a critical stage. Traffic is expected to grow by 41% by 2026 under the PCC current plan. Consultants to PCC have confirmed that some road junctions cannot cope with more traffic already and further development is only going to make things worse. The PCC development plan does not address the additional traffic issues.
There are already dangerous levels of air pollution, which have been monitored in congested areas of the city. The PCC plan does not address this unhealthy situation
School capacity is already full and additional classrooms which cause a reduction in playground space in schools and their rising class sizes could be a contributing factor to 20% of children aged 10 being obese and a 10% being overweight. Their plans do not include the development of new schools to match the increasing housing. Existing education facilities could help with this problem.
Health provision has not been expanded in the housing plan. In the existing Portsmouth plan we had health uses proposed for the redundant St James' land. However, under the emerging plan, this has been changed to additional housing only.
QA Hospital recently stated that “bed-blocking” patients were causing problems. The existing health facilities could ease this problem.
It is estimated that nationally there are 1 million people suffering from dementia who are going to need help. Mental health issues and self-harming rates for 10 to 24 year olds are increasing, requiring more facilities to support them.
Furthermore there is a need for more GP surgeries in Portsmouth to match the increased housing plans. Again this has not been addressed in the PCC plans. St James' Hospital is one such facility that could help address the above health provision issues in its current form.
Finally, Portsea Island cannot expand its natural boundaries and we are already the most densely populated city outside of London. There needs to be a future plan that restricts an arbitrary increase in housing numbers which, if pursued, would be to the detriment of the welfare of the majority of its citizens.

This ePetition ran from 02/10/2017 to 15/12/2017 and has now finished.

Nobody signed this ePetition.

Council response

The issues raised by the petition - including the provision of sufficient transport, education, health infrastructure to support the planned numbers of new homes and the associated impacts on air quality - were also recognised as key concerns in the responses to the Issues and Options consultation (published August 2017) and will be taken into account in the development of the new Portsmouth Local Plan.

We recognise that infrastructure provision is key for the future development of the city. The breadth and nature of the issues raised in the consultation will warrant further consideration and additional technical work. There will two main elements in our the approach to assessing housing numbers for the city; firstly, a technical exercise in quantifying housing need in-line with the most recent government proposals on a new standard calculation methodology and the expected update to the National Planning Policy Framework in spring 2018. And secondly, assessments considering the capacity, sustainability and deliverability of housing in the city, including (but not limited to):

• Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment: setting out the availability of sites to deliver housing and economic land including the constraints faced by individual sites and whether they can be overcome.
• An updated Infrastructure Delivery Plan: Identification of the infrastructure requirements to support the development of the city, to include transport, flood defences, green infrastructure, utilities, education, health, emergency services, community and cultural facilities, waste and affordable and supported housing.
• Viability Assessment: Testing of whether the costs of developing particular sites would make the development strategy for the future of the city undeliverable.
• Sustainability Appraisal: Assessment of proposed sites, policy options and draft policies in terms of social, economic and environmental objectives.
• Habitats Regulations Assessment: Considers whether any proposals would be likely to have a significant effect on a European site of importance, either individually or in combination with other plans or projects, under the Habitats Regulations.

There will be further opportunities to comment upon the technical work undertaken and the Council's draft proposals for the future development of the city.