Local · Portsmouth

Portsmouth South

The southern half of the city — Southsea, Old Portsmouth, the city centre, the naval base and the dockyard, plus Fratton, Milton and Eastney.

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Measured for this area

Figures that are genuinely published at this geography, not apportioned from a wider one.

73,711

Electorate

2024 general election

UK Parliament

52.8%

Turnout

2024

UK Parliament

13,155

Majority

2024

UK Parliament

35.9%

Charles Dickens child poverty

2025

PCC Public Health Needs Summary

Who represents you

Stephen Morgan

Labour · MP for Portsmouth South

Full profile, voting record and contact details →

This half of the city, in census data

Built by combining the 7 wards in this seat, weighted by population — not by splitting a city figure in half.

107,871

Residents (Census 2021)

Portsmouth: 208,003

21.0%

Households deprived in 2+ ways

Portsmouth: 19.4%

35.6%

Private rented homes

Portsmouth: 28.6%

15.5%

Adults with no qualifications

Portsmouth: 17.4%

Child poverty in Portsmouth South

Correct as of Financial year ending 2025, published 26 March 2026

Children under 16 in relative low income. DWP publishes two measures and they are not interchangeable — switch between them to see what housing costs do.

35.5%

after housing costs

6,395

children

23.9%

before housing costs

26%

UK, after housing costs

Published by DWP at constituency level — not apportioned from city figures.

Charles Dickens51.6%2,122 children

St Thomas42.8%938 children

Fratton37.1%1,292 children

Central Southsea28.2%698 children

Milton23.9%642 children

St Jude23.5%320 children

Eastney and Craneswater22.4%381 children

UK average 26% (after housing costs)

The gap between the two measures is what housing costs do to family income. Across Portsmouth's wards, deducting rent and mortgage moves child poverty by between 5 and 14 percentage points. Charles Dickens goes from 38.7% to 51.6%; Nelson from 23.4% to 37.4%. That is not a change in earnings — it is the same families, measured after they have paid to keep a roof over their heads.

Definitions, and why other sources quote different rates

Portsmouth City Council's Public Health Needs Summary quotes lower ward rates — Charles Dickens 35.9% and Paulsgrove 27.5%. Those sit with the BEFORE housing costs series, not the after-housing-costs one: DWP puts Paulsgrove at 27.8% BHC for FYE 2025 and 27.6% for FYE 2023, either of which rounds to the council figure. The council therefore appears to be quoting a before-housing-costs measure. Charles Dickens does NOT reconcile exactly against any published DWP year — the BHC series runs 37.3% to 38.7% — so a difference of roughly two points remains unexplained there, most likely a different age range or an earlier vintage. That is stated rather than smoothed over. Any figure quoted from this page should carry its measure and its year.

Scope: children aged 0 to 15 in families claiming Child Benefit and at least one other household benefit, in relative low income. Figures for 16 to 19 year olds are published separately and are not included here.

Ward profile

Pick a ward to see everything published for it in one place, against the city and England.

Central Southsea

Portsmouth South · 15,987 residents

28.2%

child poverty, after housing costs

698

children affected

16.5%

before housing costs

26%

UK average (AHC)

Measure (Census 2021)	Central Southsea	Portsmouth	England
Households deprived in 2+ ways	15.2%	19.4%	18.1%
Social rented homes	6.8%	18%	17.1%
Private rented homes	45%	28.6%	20.5%
Overcrowded households	3.5%	4.4%	4.4%
Residents in bad or very bad health	3.4%	5%	5.2%
Adults with no qualifications	11.1%	17.4%	18.1%
Adults with degree-level qualifications	35.1%	30%	33.9%
Households with no car or van	32.4%	30.3%	23.5%

Child poverty is DWP, financial year ending 2025. Census measures are ONS, March 2021 — a lockdown snapshot that does not update, useful for how wards differ from each other rather than as this year's conditions. Red marks a measure where this ward is worse than the city average.

Portsmouth South wards compared

Deprived on at least two of employment, education, health and housing at once — the census measure of compounded hardship rather than a single difficulty.

Charles Dickens36.2%

St Thomas21.2%

Fratton20.2%

Milton15.7%

Central Southsea15.2%

Eastney and Craneswater14.6%

St Jude13.9%

Portsmouth 19.4% England 18.1%

What this data is, and what it is not

Census 2021 was taken on 21 March 2021, during the third national lockdown. Student and workplace populations were displaced, and the figures do not update between censuses. Read them as a map of how wards differ from each other, not as this year's conditions.

Percentages are a published count divided by the published total for the same table and ward. The counts are ONS; the division is ours.

Project delivery tracker — Portsmouth South

Correct as of 15 September 2026

This data is correct as of 15 September 2026. Each project also carries its own last-checked date, because the public record for different schemes updates at different rates. Where a spend figure is not published, this tracker shows no figure rather than a zero.

Portsmouth International Port — cruise and ferry terminal

Complete

Committed

£11.25m

Spent

£11.25m

Funder

Levelling Up Fund Round 1

Next decision

None outstanding — operational

Detail, accountable body and evidence confidence

The only Levelling Up component with an independently published figure: the port states on its own site that the terminal was made possible through £11.25m of Levelling Up funding, matching the capital programme. Opened to first passengers 20 August 2023. The council’s 2024/25 accounts describe it as fully operational, handling an additional 250,000 passengers a year.

Accountable body. Portsmouth City Council (port is council-owned)

Evidence: Published. Last checked 15 September 2026. Source →

Investment in football facilities, including changing facilities

Complete

Committed

£1.0m

Spent

£1.0m

Funder

Attributed to Levelling Up Fund — NOT CONFIRMED

Next decision

FOI outstanding to confirm the funding source

Detail, accountable body and evidence confidence

This line carries the same funder code and is needed to make the three components sum to exactly £20m, but no public document connects it to the Levelling Up bid. A Full Council motion of 9 November 2021 listed the Lido, the linear park and the cruise terminal as the LUF projects and mentioned a football bid separately. Treat as inference, not established fact. Both FOI requests ask this question directly.

Accountable body. Portsmouth City Council

Evidence: Inferred. Last checked 15 September 2026. Source →

Southsea Coastal Scheme

Underway

Committed

See scheme site

Spent

Not published as a running total

Funder

Environment Agency flood defence grant in aid, with partnership funding

Next decision

Successive frontage phases through to completion

Detail, accountable body and evidence confidence

The largest local authority-led flood defence scheme in England, protecting around 10,000 homes and businesses. Rebuilding the seafront public realm as it goes, which is why it also appears in regeneration discussion.

Accountable body. Coastal Partners / Portsmouth City Council

Evidence: Published. Last checked 15 September 2026. Source →

City Centre North — former Tricorn and Sainsbury’s sites

Allocated in Local Plan

Committed

At least £16.1m of land assembly

Spent

At least £16.1m spent on acquisitions

Funder

Portsmouth City Council capital — land assembly. A development partner is still required for the scheme itself

Next decision

Local Plan examination, then selection of a development partner and any planning application

Detail, accountable body and evidence confidence

The single largest regeneration site in the city centre and central to the Local Plan housing trajectory. The council has acquired 31 properties for it since 2020 — a near-continuous run of Commercial Road retail units plus the former Sainsbury’s at 315 Commercial Road for £6.2m. Twenty of the 31 carry no price in the published register, so £16.1m is a floor and the true figure is higher. Allocation is still not delivery: no scheme is consented and no start date exists. City-centre retail vacancy was about 16.4% in the 2024 retail study — some of which is the council’s own newly-acquired stock awaiting redevelopment.

Accountable body. Portsmouth City Council (landowner and planning authority)

Evidence: Published. Last checked 15 September 2026. Source →

How stage and confidence are defined

Stage uses five levels deliberately: complete, underway, funded but not started, allocated in the Local Plan, and proposed. Allocation is the level most often reported as though it were delivery. Confidence is separate: "Published" means the figure appears in a public document; "Reconstructed" means it was assembled from a capital programme rather than stated; "Inferred" means the attribution is our judgement and could be wrong.

Portsmouth City Council — Cabinet 10 February 2026, capital programme appendices — 2026-02-10
GOV.UK — Levelling Up Fund: first round successful bidders — 2021-10-27
Portsmouth City Council — Statement of Accounts 2024/25 — 2026-02

Projects in this area

No official source publishes projects by Westminster constituency. These are assigned by where each site physically sits, which is our judgement, not a published classification.

Southsea Coastal Scheme

Underway — flood defence for 10,000 homes and businesses, rebuilding the seafront as it goes

City Centre North — former Tricorn and Sainsbury's sites

Allocated in the Local Plan; the single largest regeneration site in the city centre

Fratton Park and Pompey Centre

Allocated in the Local Plan (policy PLP7)

St James' Hospital campus and Langstone

Allocated in the Local Plan

Bransbury Park leisure hub

New leisure facility

Hotwalls Studios, Old Portsmouth

Operating — creative workspace quarter

Only published for Portsmouth as a whole

These are not broken down to constituency level by the bodies that publish them. Splitting a city-wide figure between the two seats would produce a number that looks local but has not been measured, so it is not done here.

•Employment, earnings, house prices and rents — published for Portsmouth as a whole only.
•Crime rates — published by police force area and local authority, not by constituency.
•Health outcomes including life expectancy — published at local authority level.
•School attainment and absence — published by local authority and by individual school, not by constituency.

See the city-wide data →

Ward-to-constituency allocation follows the current (2024) Westminster boundaries. Portsmouth North and Portsmouth South did not change shape in the 2023 boundary review. Where a statistic exists only for Portsmouth as a whole, that is stated rather than split across the two seats — apportioning an authority-level figure by population would produce a number that looks local but is not measured.

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