THE CITY OF WINCHESTER TRUST LIMITED
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED
31 MARCH 2002
Policy Group
The Group's ambitious start with the publication of the ‘Strategic Vision for Winchester’ culminated last year with the Vision Workshop following the AGM. This was attended by the previous evening’s speaker, David Mackay. Before he left, David commented that if all amenity societies were as informed and as thorough as the Trust our cities would be better protected, but that local authorities needed more help with major developments.
Many questions were raised by the necessarily broad overview of the Vision, and it was our intention to research and prepare supplementary papers dealing with these issues. But events overtook us with the application to Winchester of the Government's Planning Policy Guideline No.3 (PPG3), and the re-awakening of the Friarsgate Development.
PPG 3
The Trust's vision is to accept the challenge of the massive increase in housing provision for the South-East, not only to minimise the loss of countryside by increasing the density of urban areas but also, by the astute use of new building, actually to improve the City. We were therefore relieved to find that the guidelines appeared to reinforce our thinking. However, despite assurances from the planners that they were ahead of us in wanting to achieve these things, we find that shortage of time and resources is preventing the authorities from giving the necessary attention to the problem.
PPG3 calls for local authorities to identify sites suitable for increased density and to take into account the character of the neighbourhood, the transport considerations, the ease of pedestrian access to shopping, and so forth. Instead it seems there has only been time to react to the sites brought forward by developers, and to impose standard density requirements irrespective of the circumstances. A development approach is beginning to take place which could permanently damage areas of the City, and we must postpone further elucidation of our vision while we try to counter this threat.
Our procedure so far has been for a small working party, led by Antony Proudman, to study PPG3* and its companion document Better Places to Live*‘ to ensure that we understand them as well as the planners and the developers do. Having completed this stage we are now investigating how to make use of our knowledge. A preliminary step was to ask our MP to raise the matter in the House. He made a valiant effort but was to all intents and purposes brushed aside by the Minister’s reply, largely, we think, because neither he nor the Minister concerned really understood the issues as they affect places like Winchester. We shall try again.
Friarsgate
The proposal to redevelop this sizeable area at the heart of the City has been simmering very slowly for a long time. The primary landowner, Stagecoach, has been in negotiation with the City Council, which has been unsuccessfully endeavouring to issue a development brief (theoretically the “public's" say about what should be done), partly hampered by the same lack of resources and partly by traffic considerations which have to be dealt with by the County.
Recently a new force appeared on the scene in the person of a new development manager for Thornfield, the developers selected by Stagecoach. Until we met Michael Capocci the Trust was in despair about the prospects for this area, because Thornfield and their regular architect had no experience of historic-city development and, hard as they might try, we believe the planners would have had little chance of achieving a decent carrier bag, let alone a silk purse, from such a combination.
The difference is that the new manager has been appointed, he tells us, specifically to make a success of just such developments - as a matter of pride for developer and citizens alike. He takes the trouble to seek the Trust's opinion and we are impressed by his attitude, by his experience, and by his first action, which was to dispense with their unsuitable architect and search for a team which is capable of achieving these objectives, a search in which the Trust has been asked to play a part.
Roger Backhouse is heading another small working party from the Policy Group to maintain close contact with Thornfield and to respond constructively but searchingly to the consultation process. Of course our interests only overlap to a certain extent, and we could be having the wool pulled over our eyes, but you will soon be able to judge for yourselves, because the development manager, Mike Capocci, has agreed to be the speaker at our next AGM on the 4th November.
Michael Carden
Chairman, Policy Group
*These documents are available at the Heritage Centre for study by interested members