1

REPORT TO: Cabinet / Full Council REPORT FROM: Kathy Wadsworth & Roger Ching (Strategic Directors)

REPORT WRITTEN BY: James Brewer (Senior Planning Officer) DATE: Cabinet 9th November / Full Council 24th November 2009

Purchase of Portsea Ambulance Station 1.0 Purpose of this paper 1.1 To seek Cabinet approval to purchase the Portsea Ambulance Station to provide

short term additional public car parking and in the long term to facilitate the comprehensive redevelopment of a larger assembled site.

2.0 Recommendations

2.1 That the Head of Asset Management be, subject to Full Council approval being obtained on 24 November 2009 as set out in recommendation 2.3 below, authorised to negotiate terms for the purchase of the Portsea Ambulance Station, Ship Leopard Street, Portsmouth, shown edged red on Appendix 2 from the South Central Ambulance Service.

2.2 The City Solicitor be authorised to conclude the legal documentation

for the purchase of the Portsea Ambulance Station. 2.3 Full Council approval is sought on 24th November 2009 to fund the

purchase and laying out of the car park from the Off Street Parking Reserve.

3.0 Background

3.1 The city council’s Planning Service is preparing an SPD for The Hard area that will supplement the strategic policies contained in the Portsmouth Plan (Draft Core Strategy) and relevant saved policy (CD16) in the adopted Portsmouth City Local Plan (2001-2011).

3.2 The SPD will be prepared in conjunction with other services across the city council such as Transport and Street Management, Asset Management and Regeneration and Business.

3.3 It is envisaged that the SPD will highlight key opportunity sites and recommend

public realm improvements. It will provide detailed guidance on issues such as development aspirations and opportunities, appropriate land-uses, access points and entrances, parking and servicing, the height of new buildings and

2

improvements to the public realm. It will also discuss implementation issues including phasing and delivery.

3.4 One of the identified opportunity sites in the draft SPD is Havant Street, which

incorporates land in three separate ownerships, namely the city council owned surface car park, the vacant Portsea Ambulance Station and the Kirby Stores convenience shop (see Appendix 1).

4.0 Portsea Ambulance Station

4.1 The South Central Ambulance Service has vacated the ambulance station on Ship Leopard Street and placed the property on the market for freehold disposal (see Appendix 2 for plan of site).

4.2 There are two potential benefits this site could offer to the city council. In the short

term, it could provide an extension to the Havant Street surface car park and provide much needed public car parking in the area. The Parking Manager has confirmed that additional parking in this area would be extremely beneficial given uncertainty over whether any public car parking on the PALL Europe site will come forward.

4.3 A draft layout plan has indicated that an additional 18 spaces could be

accommodated on the site, and potential revenue from these is discussed in Appendix A (Part 2 exempt information).

4.4 Longer term, and more significantly, the site has the potential to deliver a

comprehensive development opportunity to assist in the regeneration of The Hard. Potential uses identified for the site include the retention of public car parking at ground floor level with a mix of residential, hotel and/or offices on upper floors. Appendix A (Part 2 exempt information) provides details of the purchase price, conditions of sale and a financial appraisal.

4.5 It should be noted that the change of use of the site from a vacant ambulance station to public parking would require planning permission. An application can be made immediately should Cabinet accept the recommendation in this report. The timescale for a decision on the planning application would be a maximum of 8 weeks from the date of registration of the application. 4.6 Should Cabinet accept the recommendation laid out in this report, Asset

Management would formally conclude the deal as soon as possible and the land will be placed under the Leader’s portfolio.

5.0 Equalities Impact Assessment 5.1 An EIA is not required as approval of the recommendation would not result in a

change or creation of policy, strategy or function. 6.0 City Solicitor comments 6.1 The Council has the power to acquire land by agreement under Section 120 of

the Local Government Act 1972.

3

7.0 Financial implications 7.1 The Capital costs of this scheme can be met from the Off Street Parking Reserve

(subject to approval by Full Council). The increase in income, net of additional revenue costs, will accrue to the balances of the Off Street Parking Service. This will help reduce the current shortfall in parking income experienced by the Off Street Parking Service.

8.0 Conclusions 8.1 It is recommended that Cabinet authorise the Head of Asset Management to

complete the purchase of the Portsea Ambulance Station. Signed ……………………………………… Strategic Director Background List of documents The following documents disclose facts or matters that have been relied upon to a material extent by the author in preparing this report: Document Location The Hard PRED Report 21.11.08 Planning Services Portsmouth City Local Plan 2001-2011 Planning Services Portsmouth Plan (Draft Core Strategy 2006-2026) Planning Services The recommendations set out above were approved/approved as amended/deferred/rejected by Cabinet on 9th November 2009. Signed ……………………………………… Leader of the Council

22 23

The Gieves

Apartments

Portsmouth

Tourist

Information

Centre

nglend

Common Hard

Sand and Shingle

Mud

and

VoluntarySt George's C of E

71to

S96

88

9290

94

76 t

5o59

67

8

10

2

Playing Field

BU

TCH

ER

STR

EE

T

MARGERY'S COURT

16

El Sub Sta

79

8583to

BE

NE

FIC

IAL S

TR

EE

T

TCB

RO

SE

MA

RY

LAN

E

House

COLLEGE LANE

1 to 12

Cleverley

CochraneHouse

COLLEGE STREET

12

1 to 24

70

Car Park

MHW

VIC

TO

RY

RO

AD

7

42PH

34

Brunel H

ouse

(Governm

ent Offices)

1

43

FB

Amb Sta

SH

IP LE

OP

AR

D S

TR

EE

T

Bank

FB

SL

HotelKeppel's Head

17

21

PC

Bus Station

28

27

PH

1518

THE H

ARD

16SM

FB

LB

TCBs

Post

Calder H

ouse

1 to

10

1 to 16

HouseCraddock

odrington House

1 to

10

Powell Square

El Sub Sta

1 to 16

Frobisher House

HA

VA

NT

ST

RE

ET

STREET

50

10

PH

1314

CLOCK

12

Car P

arkM

ultistorey

ET

12 to 14

PH

76

11

3 to 5

TCBs

© Crown Copyright licence No: 100019671