Millennium Walkway won't be completed in my life time

Story as printed in the Portsmouth News

EVERYONE in Portsmouth knows about the Spinnaker Tower. Love it or hate it, it’s impossible to ignore the spidery structure thrusting into the sky over

Portsmouth’s world-famous harbour.

Everyone also knows that the tower has always been, and still remains a huge source of controversy with questions like: ‘Was it worth the money?’  ‘Why wasn’t it completed on time?’ ‘Is it serving any useful purpose?’ being raised almost daily in the cafés and pubs of the city.

What fewer people realise is that another major millennium project still hasn’t been completed and  lies languishing in solicitors’ offices and council meeting rooms.



Proposed route of the Millennium Walkway



The scheme is known as the Millennium Walkway and it has frustrated councillors to such an extent that Portsmouth City Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson ecently commented: “I doubt if the project will be completed in my lifetime.”

According to Councillor Vernon-Jackson, Network Rail are behind the failure to complete the scheme which has already tied up hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers money and has embroiled the council in a series of costly legal negotiations.

“This is a highly complex project involving four sets of lawyers. Negotiations have been going on between them for many years but the real problem is network Rail, they’re an absolute nightmare to work with,” he said.

The much touted Walkway was supposed to be completed, yes, you’ve guessed it, in the year 2000. It was to be a waterside heritage trail linking Clarence pier at Southsea to the dockyard via Gunwharf Quays and The Hard.

Initially the scheme was part of the grandiose Portsmouth Harbour Millennium Project, which aimed  to transform the waterfront area for the year 2000.

Most of the trail is now fact complete: Walkers can obtain a leaflet from the

Tourist Information Centre to guide them along the pleasant heritage trail which links up sites of historic value such as the Square Tower and Spur Redoubt.

However agreement has stalled on the most striking phase of the trail, a covered walkway linking Gunwharf Quays to Portsmouth Harbour Station, which is owned by Network Rail.

Roger Ching, Strategic Director for Portsmouth city Council has worked

tirelessly for the completion of the walkway for the last ten years but says

that ongoing legal disagreements between the five main players have prevented completion. Portsmouth City Council, Whitelink, Continuum -the company behind the Spinnaker Tower, Gunwharf Quays and Network Rail all have a stake in the area covered by the development.

MrChing said: “This would have been completed many years ago if it were not such a complex project. I don’t think people realise just how difficult it is to reach agreement when there is such a large number of stakeholders involved.”

He is however optimistic that the legal disputes will soon be settled and that the council will be able to commission new contractors to complete the work in the near future: “We’re just waiting on the final bits of paperwork from Network Rail,” he said.

However Councillor Vernon-Jackson is much less optimistic: “Roger has been saying this for many years,” he said. “At times I despair and there is no apparent end in site.”

David Hempsey who is overseeing the scheme for Network Rail was unavailable for comment but a  spokesperson for the company said: “We are working with all the parties involved in this project and are hopeful of resolving all outstanding issues shortly so the Millennium Walkway can be completed fully.”

The council has also faced an embarrassing funding crisis over the project. In June 2009 it was forced to re-pay £250,000 to Berkeley Homes after failing to meet a deadline for completion. The construction company had handed over the funds in return for planning permission to develop No. 1 Gunwharf Quays on condition that the project be completed within five years. However by the time the money was due to be repaid, the council had spent £86,000 of it on the Spinnaker Tower and had to make up the shortfall from its own budget.

A 2008 cabinet report estimated that in order to complete the walkway, the

council would have to find £895,000 from ‘available capital resources.’ Put

simply, this means that the city will pay for the much of the project with our council tax and other rents, fees and charges that we hand over to the council on a daily basis.

If the £250,000 that was repaid to Berkeley homes in 2009 is deducted from this sum, the council will now have to find around £1million of capital funding in order to complete the project and this is not taking into account the increase in building costs since 2009.

The report dated November 2008 also recommended that the Council’s Strategic Director be authorized to accept the lowest tender for the completion of the scheme  as soon as possible.

However a survey of the key players in January 2010 suggests this process has not been carried out.




Portsmouth Harbour Station

 A spokesperson for Wightlink said: “At t the last meeting with Portsmouth City Council, I am pleased to confirm that they were happy with the progress with the legal agreements and budget and are finalising the design which will be going to tender shortly for revised prices.”

Clearly this is the same stage that had been reached in November 2008.

Juliana Delaney for Contiunuum, the company behind the Spinnaker Tower development said: “We are hopeful that the scheme will go to tender in the very near future.”

If the plans ever do go forward, this will just be the beginning of the process. The council will then have to vote on whether to proceed with the project and will have to allocate the necessary funding. This is at a time when the council is having its budget slashed by 28 per cent over the course of four years, this seems unlikely to happen. 

So there may be a long path ahead for the Millennium Walkway. It could turn out to be the longest heritage trail ever built and there certainly won’t be a pot of gold at the end of it.

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