Portsmouth is recognised nationally and internationally as a city of historic interest.
Its conservation requires specialist knowledge, particular care and the joint efforts of many different groups. Portsmouth City Council, businesses, property owners and local residents all have their part to play.
The leaflet below, called Conserving Portsmouth’s Heritage, explains briefly the council’s management role in conserving the city’s built environment, including the historic street furniture such as streetlights and shelters on Southsea seafront or unusual ceramic street names.
Read more below in the leaflet called Roads and street furniture in historic areas.
Contact us at planning before carrying out any works involving changes to a historic building, to be sure of the legal position.
Monuments and ancient monuments
Not all protected heritage is a building. Other listed structures include red telephone boxes, milestones, tombs, war memorials, and ancient monuments (e.g. earthworks, medieval castles and abbeys, industrial sites, defensive structures as recent as World War II). Find out more about monuments and memorials in Portsmouth.
Application for work to an ancient monument must be made to English Heritage.
Local list of historic buildings
Many buildings and structures of visual interest aren’t nationally protected and added to the Historic England national list because they don’t meet national criteria. These include schools, churches and public houses (particularly from the Victorian and Edwardian periods). They add variety and character to our streets and are often landmarks in areas of terraced housing.
To help highlight and protect these buildings of local interest, the council compiled its own local list of historic buildings and structures, with 267 entries referring to about 500 addresses.
The policy concerning buildings of local interest is included in the Portsmouth City Local Plan.
Other buildings in the city have blue plaques commemorating the people who once lived and worked there.
Work to historic buildings
You can download leaflets at the bottom of the page about different aspects of historic buildings consent, which helps conserve Portsmouth’s heritage areas.
Boundaries are an integral part of architectural design. In conservation areas, demolition of walls, or any other means of enclosure, generally requires conservation area consent. Read boundary treatment of historic buildings.
To preserve the character and appearance of historic buildings, it is important to keep the original roof slates or clay tiles, and to repair using traditional replacements. One of the most important elements of historic buildings is window type and detail, so it is important to retain the original style and materials.
The two leaflets roofs on historic buildings and windows in historic buildings outline the legal position regarding replacement roofs and windows in historic buildings, and also advise on appropriate and inappropriate roof and windows types.
Documents
Roads and street furniture in historic areas
Local list of buildings of historic interest