Westgate Study - Trust Annual Report 1971
Last year we devoted a considerable amount of space to the Westgate Study and welcomed the Architect, Mr. Donald Insall and the Surveyor, Mr. William Wells to our Annual General Meeting. We were glad to have this contact with the authors of the plan which has so much to recommend it. But little has been heard of the plan since that date, so it is likely to come up to the boil again before long.
The most critical area seems to be just below the Westgate itself. The re-furbished facades of Nos. 74-78 are attractive and form a good group. They have the stamp of an individual place and are typical of a small town character which has been disappearing too fast in recent years.
For this reason we feel that Scheme 1 for this area should be accepted, while retaining if possible the whole of No. 78. The very awkwardness of the turn into Castle Hill is one of its unique attractions. On the opposite side of the road the buildings may not be so good, but we support the view, which now appears in many environmental studies, that they could well be retained for group value and that a further whittling away of Winchester as a country town should be resisted.
The two sides of the street together give the last opportunity of retaining the right sense of scale below the Westgate arch.
The road frontage of a new hotel would have to be reduced, and the plan could be rearranged to find the same amount of space further to the north. In this connection we draw attention to paragraph 4.2 which states that "Winchester's character is largely due to its mixture of buildings large and small, many being of domestic scale and modest architectural form. The City Council do not wish to plan for or encourage the construction of any further large buildings in the area." For this reason there are many who feel that the proposals as shown in the photograph of the model on page 64 of the Report should be reconsidered. The hotel block with the supermarket behind are not in harmony with the General Character of the area as stated in the Terms of Reference.