Tipner West | portsolentresidents

Tipner West Regeneration Project

In March 2025 it was reported that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner had withdrawn Government funding for the development at Tipner West, effectively bringing to a close a long-running dispute between local planners and environmental groups.

Subsequently, in May 2025, PCC wrote to Angela Rayner seeking a review of the decision. In August 2025 Angela Rayner again called a halt to the project stating that the benefits do not outweigh the environmental harms. Report in The News.

The Tipner West & Horsea Island East Regeneration (formerly the Lennox Point Project) underwent substantial revision since the City Council called for a pause to re-consider in the Autumn of 2022. RAPS Committee members met on July 19th 2024 with Tim Raw and Molly Penney of the PCC Engagement Team to answer questions from RAPS members about the Project and to establish a forum for regular updates and consultation. A follow-up meeting with the RAPS Committee for Tuesday 26th November 2024 was cancelled.

Here, albeit superseded by the subsequent decision to withdraw Government funding is a report on the meeting held 19th July 2024:

Aerial view of Tipner West and part of Horsea Island East. Port Solent is at the top right.

March 2026 update

In the list of Portsmouth Plan Strategic Sites, a new entry appeared in March 2026: Tipner West Regeneration - Delivery Approach. Residents will be interested to note paragraph 2.7, where it states that the bridge link to Horsea Island has been dropped:

However, in order to avoid losses (that can't be mitigated) to the protected habitat sites surrounding the site (SPA and Ramsar sites), the new policy allocation omits previous references to a regionally-significant marine hub with deepwater access and the requirement to provide a bridge connection to H[orsea Island]

RAPS asked for confirmation of this and received a quick response from Nick Lloyd-Davies from PCC Development Management:

Whilst the express requirement to deliver the bridge has now been removed from the Tipner West site allocation policy, the delivery of the Tipner-Horsea Island bridge link remains a commitment of the Council as referenced in supporting text to policy PLP3 and also in the Local Transport Plan. You will see that both the Tipner West and Horsea Island Strategic Open Space policies (PLP3 and PLP9) identify 'safeguarded land' for future delivery of the bridge. Delivery of the bridge will be a fundamental pre-requisite for any significant development at Port Solent, as noted in draft policy PLP11. A key issue remains the source of funding and this will be achieved through a combination of capital grant (eg. through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), section 106 planning contributions from developments (including Tipner West and Port Solent), (new) Mayoral funding and potentially central Government grant.

NB: Although headed 'Official Sensitive', Portsmouth City Council is happy for this information to be shared openly with RAPS