Ambitious plans revealed for Gosport’s historic waterfront makeover

A platform over the water, a redesigned High Street gateway, and new signs inspired by Gosport’s naval past are part of multi-million-pound plans to transform the town’s historic waterfront.

Members of Gosport Borough Council’s economic, regeneration, and skills board will meet on Thursday to consider approving the £5.88 million scheme.

The first phase of the plans, split into five projects, form part of the Waterfront Public Realm Masterplan.

However, the council’s own report acknowledges that there is a funding gap of around £490,000.

Some £2.32 million is set to go on redesigning the entrance to the town for visitors arriving by ferry from Portsmouth, with improvements to Falkland Gardens and a new High Street gateway.

A further £1.79 million is earmarked for Royal Clarence Yard, including a new pedestrian platform over the water linking Victoria Quay to the historic yard, and a new footpath through Ministry of Defence land.

This would give people a more direct route into the area.

New signs and heritage panels inspired by Gosport’s naval past and Georgian architecture would be installed along the full 4.4km waterfront route.

This would cost £1.27 million, and different colour schemes would be used to give each neighbourhood its own identity.

Meanwhile, the Millennium Sundial would receive new landscaping and seating under £370,000 worth of improvements.

Another part of the scheme has been years in the making and could finally come to fruition if councillors sign on the dotted line.

Hundreds of pupils from Bridgemary School, Bedenham Primary, and Holbrook Primary worked with ceramic artist Karen Townsend and environmental design firm Artecology to create 11 specially designed artificial rockpools.

Funded by Arts Council England and the GBC Community Fund, the ‘Vertipools’ are designed to be fixed into intertidal seawalls, creating new habitats for marine plants and animals.

They have been in storage since they were completed, but the £126,000 installation could finally bring the children’s work to the waterfront.

Council documents state that the University of Portsmouth has expressed interest in monitoring which species colonise the rockpools through citizen science surveys.

These waterfront plans are being paid for with money from the central government, worth just under £7 million.

The entire scheme is part of a wider £18 million government-funded regeneration programme for the town, which also includes a £22 million renovation of the Rum Store at Royal Clarence Yard being carried out with developer UK Docks.

If approved, officers will progress to detailed design before returning to the board with final costs.

A government deadline requires all money to be spent by March 2028.

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