£25m border control building at Portsmouth International Port could be demolished

  • ITV News Meridian reporter Chlöe Oliver has been given a look around the brand new facility that has been labelled a 'white elephant.

A border control building at Portsmouth International Port which has taken four years and £25m to build now lies half empty due to changes in legislation post-Brexit.

The government told bosses at the Hampshire city port to accommodate up to 80 vehicles a day but the reality next month will be an average of 5 a day.

In one months’ time, on 30 April, physical checks are due to start taking place at Border Control Posts at ports across the country.

Portsmouth International Port finds itself in a unique position being the only publicly owned port in the country.

Portsmouth City Council spent £7m helping to build the new border check facility, the authority now wants that cost reimbursed by the government.

The Port director says taking up a 2 acre site on the city island port, nearly half of the building is left empty

The giant warehouse was built in July 2021, equivalent to the size of a football pitch.

It was made to inspect animal, plant and forest products imported from Europe.

Due to changing government guidance since Brexit, the port has built a site double what is needed come the 30th April when the border checks come into place across the UK.

Portsmouth International Port said it had to create the border control post to handle inspections on some products coming from the EU. Credit: ITV Meridian

ITV News Meridian approached Defra for comment and they told us where the Border Control Post (BCP) has concerns, for example due to non-attendance, there are existing robust provisions for the goods to be referred for inland controls by the local authority, enforceable through the data collected through those customs declarations and pre-notification.

In a statement they said: “The new border controls are being introduced progressively following extensive consultation with industry and are necessary to protect the UK’s biosecurity from potentially harmful pests and diseases.

“We have provided ports with £200m in funding to prepare for the import controls and it is up to each Border Control Post to determine how best to use this funding. We will continue to work with border control posts as these changes are implemented.”

Defra have also commented that they have used this feedback from the port to inform the final policy, which will be published shortly.

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