Charlie Austin may be Red & White & he may hate Pompey, but ironically Albion Towers 100 metres or so may be itself sporting Saints colours if the City council housing team get their way.
The Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth was the subject of much consternation from Pompey fans when it was announced that it was to be pained Red & White, in the end that did not happen, but now those on the viewing gallery will may well be able to see how a tower looks in those splendid colours.
Southampton City Council's Housing Team have revealed plans to paint Albion Towers only around 100 metres away just behind the Kingsland Stand in Red & White stripes.
In a poll 37 out of 47 househholds in the Towers said they would be happy to see the change of colour scheme and voted for it, however the biggest objection comes from within the Council itself, the planning department.
They have said.
"Whilst the re-cladding of the building presents the opportunity to improve the appearance of the building, to a degree, the extent and tone of the red colour proposed, against a contrasting white render, would not achieve the desired effect.
"Rather, since the colour choice is unusual in this context, the amount and striped nature of the colour application would instead accentuate the poor design of the building and increase its negative prominence within the cityscape.
"This impact is considered to be particularly harmful to the visual quality of the city centre given that the building would be readily visible from longer-distance views and key approaches into the city, including from the train line.”
The city council’s planning and rights of way panel meets tomorrow night, and could decide to approve or reject the plans.
So both department's will come up against each other and argue their case, personally I think it would brighten up the area, the City Council has spent decades of in fighting and failing to re generate this City, it was ludicrous that after phase one of West Quay, we still haven't quite yet got phase two some 16 years later and other areas of the City such as Mayflower Park and the Royal Pier have been left to become more run down every year.
It is about time that those in the planning department start to work for this City and look to re generate it rather than continue to stung growth and regeneration with every available excuse they can come up with.