The Green Line

Rob Marchant

As previously recorded in this publication, large parts of the City escaped relatively unscathed from the air raids of the second World War, with the areas around the Royal Dockyard taking the brunt of that enemy air activity. Somerstown suffered damage but not to the extent of Portsea and the Kings Road area of Southsea.

However, the reprieve was short term and from the 1950s, but particularly in the 1960s and ‘70s, what the Luftwaffe failed to achieve in terms of destroying the residential heart of the city was done for them by the City Council with the wholesale redevelopment of large parts of the city, especially Somerstown and Buckland.

Well that is certainly one view. Others would argue that what happened was the sweeping away of masses of unfit and outdated housing, no longer fit for purpose, and replacement with modern and better-quality housing.

As so often is the case, there are two sides to most arguments and this one is no different. PPA Secretary Neil Hawkins recalls his father, an ordinary working man in the city, commenting at the time that he was pleased that at last the “slum clearance” was underway. A view doubtless shared by many. Yet others saw the redevelopment as wanton vandalism on a grand scale. You pay your money and you take your choice! Somerstown had, like so many of the new districts of the city we know today, started as a village or suburb that was eventually swallowed up as Portsmouth grew larger. The name had come from the first houses built on Green Road in around 1820 on land belonging to Mr Somers. By the time St Peter’s Church opened its doors in 1883, the settlement was well and truly established with a good deal of terraced housing providing homes for the working families that lived there. In the 1950s, Somerstown had an established centre in its own right with a whole range of shops along Somers Road and, for those that wished to do so, you could do your weekly shopping and not need to venture further afield to Commercial Road.

Close by, the “village” of Buckland was another that had been swallowed up by the ever-expanding city in the late 19th century. It had a similar housing stock and community feel as people lived in communities that were close in every sense of the word.

The title of this article comes down to a green line on a map. As Past Chairman David Nesbit explained “in the 1960s, if your home was inside an arbitrary green line on a map in the City Council offices in that period, you were due for demolition and redevelopment. If your house was outside the line you were spared”. Seemingly, it didn’t much matter if your property was the best kept in the city, if it was inside the line it was fodder for the bulldozers.

Credit: Hassocks5489 - commons.wikimedia.org

Equally, many houses in a dreadful state of repair, but outside the green line of the redevelopment zone, were left standing and untouched.

There were appeals against some of the compulsory purchase orders that were served and surveyors, who were PPA members, were involved in the process that saw some isolated houses or even small rows spared, as can be evidenced today with a walk through the area.

David Nesbit’s firm acted for the Portsmouth Owner Occupiers Association who fought for better compensation terms. The local issues were raised in Parliament by Frank Judd the MP for the area in that era.

In 1964, much of Somerstown consisted of tiny houses, which the Victorians called ‘houses for artisans’. However, between 1964 and 1969, pretty much all of the houses to the west of Somers Road were torn down and replaced with high and medium rise flats and a modicum of two storey houses. By 1969 1,245 new dwellings had been built inside an area of 33 acres and modern Somerstown was born.

Buckland suffered/enjoyed a similar fate and was “transformed” and much of Buckland was rebuilt. The 1968 Council approved plan was to redevelop Buckland in stages over the following years. New homes were due to be built for about 8,500 people on 83 acres under the terms of the scheme. According to the plan, about 70% of the new homes would be 3,4,5,6 or 7 storey buildings and about 30% would be 2 storey. While undoubtedly many of the houses that were demolished in these redevelopments were sub-standard, unfortunately it wasn’t just the houses that were swept away. The generations old community spirit that went with living in tight terraced streets was flattened by the bulldozers, just as surely as the physical bricks and mortar they were there to sweep away.

People who had known everybody in the street, were suddenly living on the 11th floor in high rise blocks with “neighbours” above and below. Far harder to get to know and lend you a cup of sugar!

The ensuing social issues that followed are, of course, by no means unique to Portsmouth and certainly cannot be blamed entirely on the housing provision, but would anybody try to argue that the new housing was not a contributing factor?

Somerstown has consistently been one of the poorest areas in the South of England and has had one of the highest rates of unemployment. Numerous piecemeal strategies have been put forward over the years to remedy the many problems faced by Portsmouth City Council in these areas as they attempt to deal with what is a major issue and one for which there is no obvious easy fix.

Recognising the scale of the problem, in July 2012, Portsmouth City Council adopted the Somerstown and North Southsea Area Action Plan (AAP) which asks;

Why an Area Action Plan is needed The Somerstown and North Southsea area is strategically important within the wider city context. Its close proximity to: the city centre; main shopping areas; public transport network; centres of employment and education, leisure attractions and amenities should make it a desirable and attractive place to live. Despite significant investment in social and economic regeneration initiatives in recent years, the area as a whole continues to perform poorly across a range of deprivation indicators. Low levels of skills and income, and high unemployment, have meant that the residents of Somerstown and North Southsea continue to be excluded from the opportunities offered by Portsmouth’s growing economy. Indicators of health, crime and educational performance show that, while some improvement has been achieved in recent years, the area lags severely behind city averages. *Somerstown and North Southsea Area Action Plan (Portsmouth City Council)

More recently, issues in the highrise blocks with the concrete used in the original construction and faulty cladding, post Grenfell, have all added to the challenges facing the Council.

The solutions that are found will, doubtless, have a large bearing on the physical appearance of the city and the living conditions of many of its inhabitants going forward. We can only wish those with the responsibility of deciding the way ahead all good fortune with their decision making. Doubtless, they will employ rather more forethought than was perhaps evident the last time the areas were “redeveloped”.