Projects and money

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.

Tracked projects

As of 15 September 2026. Money announced is not money spent, and spent is not delivered — each stage is shown separately, and a stage nobody has published stays marked “not published”.

Portsmouth International Port — cruise and ferry terminal

Complete Published figures City-wide

Committed: £11.25m
Spent to date: £11.25m
Funder: Levelling Up Fund Round 1
Accountable body: Portsmouth City Council (port is council-owned)
Next decision: None outstanding — operational

Announced
Evidenced

Funding awarded
Evidenced

Money received
Not published

Council decision
Not published

Contracted
Not published

Spent
Evidenced

Delivered
Evidenced

Outcome measured
Not published

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.

Source

Linear Park and Hilsea Lido

Underway Reconstructed figures Portsmouth North

Committed: £7.75m grant (scheme total since risen to £8.286m)
Spent to date: £4.85m to March 2025
Funder: Levelling Up Fund Round 1, plus £486k council contribution
Accountable body: Portsmouth City Council
Next decision: Completion of the wider linear park beyond the Lido itself
Delay: About a year. The contractor said in June 2024 it would complete in spring 2025 for the summer season; it opened 2 May 2026.

Announced
Evidenced

Funding awarded
Evidenced

Money received
Not published

Council decision
Not published

Contracted
Not published

Spent
Evidenced

Delivered
Not published

Outcome measured
Not published

The grant programme contains a single line called "Linear Park" — there is no separate Hilsea Lido grant line, so the council has never published how much went to the Lido versus the wider park. Government’s January 2023 case study promised children’s water play, event space and spectator areas; the Lido reopened with pool, changing, sauna and pop-up food, and the contractor’s account records the spectator stand was demolished. No descope or clawback appears anywhere in the public record. An FOI is outstanding on the internal split.

Source

Investment in football facilities, including changing facilities

Complete Inferred figures City-wide

Committed: £1.0m
Spent to date: £1.0m
Funder: Attributed to Levelling Up Fund — NOT CONFIRMED
Accountable body: Portsmouth City Council
Next decision: FOI outstanding to confirm the funding source

Announced
Evidenced

Funding awarded
Evidenced

Money received
Not published

Council decision
Not published

Contracted
Not published

Spent
Evidenced

Delivered
Evidenced

Outcome measured
Not published

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.

Source

Hilsea Lines moat restoration and sea defences

Underway Published figures Portsmouth North

Committed: Not published as a single figure
Spent to date: Not published
Funder: North Portsea Coastal Scheme Phase 5 — Environment Agency and Coastal Partners
Accountable body: Coastal Partners with the Environment Agency and Portsmouth City Council
Next decision: Completion of sea-defence work, end of 2026

Announced
Evidenced

Funding awarded
Not published

Money received
Not published

Council decision
Not published

Contracted
Not published

Spent
Not published

Delivered
Not published

Outcome measured
Not published

Commonly and wrongly attributed to the £20m Levelling Up award. The scheme’s own site attributes it to funding secured by the environment team for 2025/26 and does not identify it as Levelling Up money anywhere. Dredging began September 2025. Crediting a flood-defence scheme to a regeneration grant makes that grant look like it delivered more than it did.

Source

Southsea Coastal Scheme

Underway Published figures Portsmouth South

Committed: See scheme site
Spent to date: Not published as a running total
Funder: Environment Agency flood defence grant in aid, with partnership funding
Accountable body: Coastal Partners / Portsmouth City Council
Next decision: Successive frontage phases through to completion

Announced
Evidenced

Funding awarded
Not published

Money received
Not published

Council decision
Not published

Contracted
Not published

Spent
Not published

Delivered
Not published

Outcome measured
Not published

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.

Source

City Centre North — former Tricorn and Sainsbury’s sites

Allocated in Local Plan Published figures Portsmouth South

Committed: At least £16.1m of land assembly
Spent to date: At least £16.1m spent on acquisitions
Funder: Portsmouth City Council capital — land assembly. A development partner is still required for the scheme itself
Accountable body: Portsmouth City Council (landowner and planning authority)
Next decision: Local Plan examination, then selection of a development partner and any planning application

Announced
Evidenced

Funding awarded
Evidenced

Money received
Not published

Council decision
Not published

Contracted
Not published

Spent
Evidenced

Delivered
Not published

Outcome measured
Not published

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.

Source

Tipner West

Allocated in Local Plan Published figures Portsmouth North

Committed: No public funding committed
Spent to date: n/a
Funder: To be determined
Accountable body: Portsmouth City Council
Next decision: Local Plan examination

Announced
Evidenced

Funding awarded
Not published

Money received
Not published

Council decision
Not published

Contracted
Not published

Spent
Not published

Delivered
Not published

Outcome measured
Not published

Housing alongside marine employment space. The sequencing matters: if housing is built first and employment space last, the employment element is the part most at risk of never arriving. That risk is this site’s analysis, not council policy.

Source

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.

Bids

Longlisted

UK City of Culture 2029 bid

Shortlist due autumn 2026; winner January 2027

Checked 23 September 2026 · next 30 November 2026