Not a university town

The article Traders blast tower blocks for students speaks on the proposal to build student accommodation blocks in Arundel Street!

One can only describe this proposal if allowed by our city council and planners as manic lunacy; having complete disregard for our city centre's quality and for Portsmouth residents in view of the massive new student blocks already built there recently.

They are very ugly and no doubt an eyesore to most Portsmouth residents.

Even their use is now considered suspect as I understand that people other than students have been living in them.

Portsmouth has a university but it is certainly not a university town and will never be one.

Moves afoot to convert it into one apparently by stealth is very underhand and deceitful. To destroy local shops in Arundel Street to build additional blocks is is one of these moves.

It seems that these moves come about with little or no public consultation and are only learnt about by default.

Are the current blocks full of students and will they ever be?

One must really ask what are they really for and what interests lie behind this massive pressure to build and build these blocks with no consideration for any architectural harmony and real local business interests in our city?

No, post-war Portsmouth is not the prettiest city in the country due to shabby re-building, and surely this lunacy should have stopped back in the 1960s. Oh well, city council, carry on regardless as we know you will. But if the public are able to sign a petition against this current move to build these unnecessary additional blocks then please do so. You never know, it may result in change.

Robert Steward Gains Road, Southsea