Winchester and District Study - Trust Annual Report 1971
The participation of citizens in the Winchester and District Report is a commendable exercise in public relations and planning. The process has now just about reached the half way stage and the Local Authorities will be able to incorporate proposals from the three groups in their plans for the future.
As the Hampshire Chronicle reported after the July Public Meeting, the dominant theme has been that the City should not become too developed. "The biggest cheer of the evening went to the speaker who said that, although it might be selfish and greedy, the City should stay as it is; that enough of the country has been ruined already."
This in reality is a very fair summary of the aim of the Winchester Preservation Trust, but is it really selfish and greedy to adopt this attitude ? Winchester is a City of international reputation and it is not selfish to preserve it. Winchester exists for the nation just as much as for the residents. Such places are rare and the real selfishness would lie in the citizens producing unsuitable developments and innovations such as the proposed M3, which are against the national interest if looked at from the point of view of spoiling a unique environment. It is expediency and cost benefit analysis that are the really selfish and greedy attitudes.