The South Hampshire Plan - Trust Annual Report 1967
In January Professor Buchanan lectured at the School of Art on the South Hampshire Study. This had been commissioned by the Hampshire County Council, the City Councils of Portsmouth and Southampton and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.
Winchester falls outside the area, nevertheless it is probable if this development proceeds it would make Winchester even more important as an historic town. If the plan is not adopted, there is likely to be hardly less building, but without the organisation of the plan, leading to urban sprawl.
There are general principles, however, in the report which can be applied to the traffic problems of Winchester.
The first is the unsuitability of all historic European town plans for motor traffic. In these the traffic is all directed straight to the centre. The proposals for Winchester, which consist mainly of widening existing roads, do nothing to improve this situation. On the contrary, it allows more traffic to create confusion in the central narrow streets. This is one reason why the Trust has opposed the Romsey Road—St. Cross link.
On the other hand, Professor Buchanan has shown that by planning on the basis of a grid, this difficulty is avoided.
The grid can, in fact, take on a very wide range of shapes and need not be repetitive rectangles all of the same dimension. The same principle could be applied to Winchester, so that traffic is diverted round the City instead of through it. If the roads are improved, they will be used not only by local traffic but also by others.
One of the most penetrating asides made by Professor Buchanan was the statement that the two estates of the realm now consist of those members of the community who had the benefit of subsidized housing and on the other hand those who had not.
It is no business of a Preservation Trust to become involved in the political aspects of this situation, but a Trust such as ours is extremely interested in the type of houses that are built.
Overwhelmingly, people in Britain want houses, but the great majority of the population regard choice in housing as a luxury beyond their means. The problem is how to create massed housing quickly enough to meet the need, and attractive enough for people to enjoy living in them, yet without harm to an existing town, still fortunate enough to possess good architecture and a historic centre.
Preservation is very much concerned with harmonising the new and the old, and the way to achieve this is by using the best in present day design, particularly in housing, whether subsidized or not.