THE CITY OF WINCHESTER TRUST LIMITED
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED
31 MARCH 2002
Winchester District Local Plan
Following the publication of the First Deposit of the Winchester District Local Plan in late October 2001, the District Council has received no fewer than 3000 - yes, 3000! - representations from organisations, companies and private individuals.
The mammoth task of reviewing each representation, and then summarising the Council’s response, has stretched the Strategic Section of the Planning Department to its limits. Each representation is listed, considered and commented upon, and then a recommendation is made by the Council Officers as to whether the original text should be amended or left as it is.
The WDLP Panel of Councillors then confirms or rejects the Officers' proposals at a series of meetings open to the public and at which the Trust has been represented. The final decisions then go fon/vard to the Second Deposit, which forms the base document for the Public Inquiry.
As one would expect, much of the public representation has concerned housing, with serried ranks of developers and their architects making representations. An Urban Capacity Study mapping out the possibilities for housing development throughout the District, from brownfield sites in central Winchester to sites on the outskirts of small villages, has caused much discussion.
One of the Trust's greatest worries has been shopping and the City Centre. This still has further to go, and finance has been made available for a shopping survey before final decisions are made. Also hanging above Winchester as a sword of Damocles is the threat of a major development at Barton Farm. Doubt remains over at what stage the Council should start studies as to what infrastructure might be required. At present it would appear that this development is last in the queue of Reserve Major Development Areas, but there are repeated danger signals being shown that certain Councillors favour this development. It is Trust policy to oppose any voluntary or premature move in this direction.
At the time of writing the series of meetings of the WDLP Panel is drawing to a close, with the final meeting in October/November 2002. lf all goes well this should allow the Public Inquiry to start in late 2003. There will be two Inspectors, and the lnquiry is expected to last 6-9 months, with the final ratification of the Plan in 2006.
Antony Skinner