So it looks like we're finally getting closer to the root of the problem.

Back in 2010 is when this process would have been started. Portsmouth City Council decided to rehouse the Portsmouth records into the Southsea Library. At this point what they also would have been doing behind the scenes was planning on how they were going to reutilize the records office after.

We can only assume that the plan was to allow the building to fall into disrepair so that in period of time, 2015, they could transfer the property over to the housing department to justify its demolition.

As you can see from the response from the CEO of Portsmouth City Council, she cannot find or provide any documentation or process that backs up and supports the board's decision that this should be transferred.

She quotes
'I am afraid I don't have the information to be able to provide much more detail than is shown in the MIS which I shared with you'.

All documents and emails that would have been created on a process as important as this would always be retained and registered within the Portsmouth City Council records which can be accessed via the Freedom of Information (FOI) application process which we did back in November 2020. So since this date, we have been fully aware that there was nothing on record to justify the building's transfer from Heritage to Housing. But it has taken four years and for us to get Stephen Morgan MP involved to actually have the Portsmouth City Council admit this to us in writing.

The response we had from Stephen Morgan's MP office was;

‘It is of course very concerning that questions reportedly cannot be answered, however, we do appreciate retention periods may mean that some documentation relating to decisions made in 2015 is no longer available’.

So how do we proceed, what do we do, what questions do we ask, and who do we hold responsible for this series of failures? The common sense solution is that the Records Office needs to be transferred back from housing to heritage and it needs to be protected and restored And those that were involved in the bypassing process to furnish their own internal desires and needs need to be Disciplined. Also, a serious amendment needs to be made to the process control to ensure that this doesn't continue to happen to any building in Portsmouth, let alone heritage stock which is so important to the City.

This fight is also made harder if we do not have the continued support from your constituents of Portsmouth out there. So please donate, please write in, and please volunteer to help us out with this fight. Portsmouth City Council employees are the route of the problem and we HAVE TO HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.

We will update you on our next response.