News

The team at St James kicked off their appeal to raise funds for a new roof in May with a dinner (cooked by Cllr.Gerald Vernon Jackson) and an excellent speech about politicians given by Father Hugo – currently vicar of Paulsgrove but formerly of St James and before that, a civil servant in the cabinet office in Downing Street. Stella Wansborough said, “This project has been in development for a few years now, and hopefully we will be starting in late summer.  We have to raise about £1.8M which will cover our main roof, two side roofs, some of the windows which are in quite a dangerous state, a lot of the brickwork which needs repointing, some around the windows and all the window sill…

Portsmouth has taken a significant step in fostering community spirit and tackling loneliness with the introduction of its first-ever ‘Chatty Bench’, officially launched in Milton Park by Lord Mayor Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson and members of the Milton Neighbourhood Forum. https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1FfWZA.img?w=768&h=512&m=6&x=1502&y=543&s=102&d=102") center center / cover no-repeat; filter: blur(90px); height: 512px;">  Milton Locals Having a Chat© (Photo: Submitted) These special benches, marked with a simple sign inviting passers-by to sit and chat, are designed to encourage spontaneous conver…

HM Government want to hear your views on creating a new mayoral combined county authority for Hampshire and the Solent to bring devolution to the area. WHAT IS ENGLISH DEVOLUTION? Devolution is where areas and their local leaders gain powers and funding previously held by national government. This means important decisions are made by someone who understands the needs of your community and what changes will have the best and biggest impact. WHAT IS A MAYORAL COMBINED COUNTY AUTHORITY? Mayoral combined county authorities are organisations made up of a group of councils who agree to take on devolved powers and funding so that they can take decisions together across a bigger area. They are…

Wednesday, 19th March 7.00-9.00pm Christ Church Milton (Milton United Reformed Church) - 239 Milton Road. PO4 8PH (Opposite the Esso garage) Agenda Local News / AGM / Etc Bransbury Leisure Centre - David Moorman, Project Lead at Portsmouth City Council Milton Common - An Update from our local ranger Donna Cook Langstone Harbour Environmental Projects - Megan Roberts

The link below will take you to a copy of the email submission to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero from Viola Langley submitted on behalf of Let’s Stop Aquind. Click Here

Are you a local business looking to raise awareness or find new customers, are you a crafter or maker with wares to sell or just a local group trying to raise awareness?  Whatever your objective - a nice afternoon in a green space surrounded by trees with lots of local families enjoying the fun  may be just what you need.  Do get in touch - details in the graphic above.

We met at the United Reform Church one dark, wet evening last October and had a surprisingly good turnout considering the conditions and the challenge of parking in that area at that time of night - we hope our next meeting on the 19th March will be as well attended. Our secretary, Patrick O'Hara took the following comprehensive notes of each of the speakers presentations: The City Local Plan and the Neighbourhood Plan   Lucy Howard, Head of Planning Policy at Portsmouth City Council, discussed the emerging City Plan. The plan has recently been consulted on to ensure it is legally compliant and ‘sound’ (Reg19). Once this process is completed, it will be submitted to the Inspect…

Planning permission was granted in December 2024 for Portsmouth City Council's plans for Bransbury Park. The plans include a new leisure centre with a swimming pool, learner pool and gym, built on the old hard courts. This will include a new GP surgery for the Lighthouse Practice, who will move from Devonshire Avenue. There will be a relocated play area with new equipment, and the miniature railway will be kept in the same position. In addition, the old changing pavilion will be replaced with a modern facility, with a new astro-turf pitch and multi-use games area to the north of the new building. At the time of going to print, Portsmouth City Council are working with the contractors, Willm…

The volunteers very much regret that the Gas Engine House remains closed to visitors. An update on the situation. On 6 March 2024 Portsmouth City Council stopped us from recruiting volunteers. Since then we have lost some volunteers and no longer have sufficient to safely open to the public. On 8 May 2024 PCC told us to stop operating the machinery and to stop using power tools. The reason given for the above is that PCC's Health and Safety documentation was not up to date. The Gas Engine House is part of Portsmouth City Museums, which falls within the Directorate of Culture, Leisure and Regulatory Services. From July 2024 we have been permitted to turn over the engines for conservatio…

As you will recall, Forty-4-Frankie (F4F) is a campaign aiming to raise funds for forty more 24-hour defibrillators in Portsmouth and increase awareness and confidence in using this emergency equipment. F4F was launched almost a year ago in March 2024 and since our last Milton Matters in October 2024 we have installed and registered six more 24-hour defibrillators. This means that there are now 11 more defibrillators available around Portsmouth - so we are (just) over a quarter of the way to our target of 40!!! The recently installed sites are at: Aqua Cars, 12-13 Rodney Road, Portsmouth, PO4 8DF Their General Manager Bruce Hall is pictured here. With special thanks going to Ian McNiven…

The Secretary of State has yet to make a decision on whether the proposed AQUIND Interconnector between Normandy in France and the UK can go ahead. If it does,  objectors fear untold traffic chaos and environmental damage as trenches are dug for the cables from where they are proposed to land at Eastney Beach, up through the city of Portsmouth and onward through Widley and Waterlooville to Lovedean. One of the reasons for the delay in making a decision was because the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had asked for time to review the proposal. They have now done so and their recommendation is that the development does not get approval owing to fears about security at the naval base in Portsmo…

PORTSMOUTH, HAMPSHIRE 10.7.24 With regulators on both sides of the English Channel1 minded to reject the Aquind Interconnector2 and the Ministry of Defence preparing to submit evidence of its "significant national security concerns" around the project3, Aquind Limited yesterday made grossly misleading claims about the level of public support for the Aquind Interconnector in Portsmouth. These claims are being rejected in the strongest possible terms by grassroots community group Let's Stop Aquind (LSA), which has campaigned for nearly 4 years to stop the damage that the Aquind Interconnector would cause to the environment and economy of Portsmouth and the South Downs, and the health of the…