Chesgate - Trust Annual Report 1982
The development proposals for Eastgate and Chesil Streets posed a major problem for the City Council. Although immediately attractive in terms of new facilities and potentially rewarding investment, this hurriedly concocted scheme proved to be full of flaws when subjected to close inspection. Those who made warning noises were accused of resisting progress, but commonŽsense prevailed when the City Planning Committee accepted their officers' recommendations after a four-hour presentation of the case.
The Trust had followed its early public statement of cautious misgiving on the subject with a very careful study of the issues and a detailed statement of opposition which, it turned out, closely parallelled the Planners' reaction. More significantly, perhaps, it was an unusual instance of open agreement between the Trust and the Chamber of Commerce, and we have high hopes that our two organisations will discover that they have more common ground in the future.
The lesson is not that new development is unsuitable for Winchester, but that it should be properly conceived to fit the City's needs and problems. We are pleased to note that the architects employed by the Chesgate developers are showing how this may be done in their work for Winchester College. Clearly the brief as much as the architect is responsible for the outcome.