Portsmouth set to create housing development company

Portsmouth City Council could become the latest in a long line of local authorities to establish its own housing development company.

Cabinet members are due to meet next week (26 February) to discuss plans to set up a council-owned company called Ravelin to develop sites across the city.

Initially five sites are earmarked for more than 200 homes – 40 on Arundel Street, 14 on Hambrook Street, 55 on Doyle Avenue, 91 on Museum Road and 23 on the former Southsea Community Centre site, all subject to planning approvals.

According to the council, Ravelin will give greater opportunities to develop a range of housing products for people who live and work in Portsmouth including opportunities to get residents on the property ladder by also offering schemes such as shared ownership and rent to buy, as well as providing homes specifically for key workers.

The company will also make money through the properties it sells, this will be returned to the council and help support valued community services.

‘Portsmouth needs to deliver new homes that residents can afford but we are limited as a council in how we can provide housing on land the city council owns. Ravelin will give us exciting options to look at a wider range of homes,’ said the council’s cabinet member for housing, Cllr Darren Sanders.

Cllr Ben Dowling, the council’s cabinet member for planning, regeneration and economic development, added: ‘Portsmouth needs to deliver new homes but as a council we want to make sure it is done in an appropriate way, particularly homes that people in the city can afford to rent and buy.

‘Using a company like Ravelin, which the council owns and controls, can allow us to create developments that have a good mix of property types to rent and buy and enhance the communities they become part of.”

The details of the proposals are available here.