Winchester 2020 - TrustNews Sept 10
We recently reported the remarkable '24 hours to save Winchester' event when the Solent Centre for Architecture and Design challenged three volunteer teams of professionals, each working independently through the night at the School of Art, to come up with ideas for an attractive and sustainable City by 2020. The schemes presented to a large audience the following day were not only innovative and pleasing, but potentially surprisingly practicable. In the time available it was not of course possible to go further than ideas — each team producing an overall concept and one or two sample areas. Significantly the teams quite separately developed similar concepts that made the area within the old walls traffic-free (except for essential services and special needs), surrounded by sub-centres that would be self-sufficient for daily requirements, and with efficient public transport to the centre and between each other. However, the way in which each area was conceived varied imaginatively.>
Ideas-based approach to the future
All who were present felt that this initiative should not be lost, so that leading members of the teams agreed to work with WinACC and the Trust to develop this ideas-based approach to the future of Winchester, and to commend it to the City Council. You will know that WinACC was formed with the object of creating a sustainable Winchester and cutting the carbon footprint of the district by a third by 2015, and that the Trust has been campaigning for a 'conceptual framework' to guide development so that it enhances rather than detracts from the character of the City. This ideas-based approach appealed to both organisations as a very promising way forward.
Genuinely practicable vision
The name '24 hours to save....' had served its purpose, so the new informal partnership has adopted the name 'Winchester 2020', with the objective of creating a genuinely practicable vision for a sustainable, enjoyable and characterful City by 2020. This chimes well with the City Council's recently expressed intention of reviewing and giving more direct focus to the Vision Document of 2006. All are agreed that the abandonment of Government directives on forward planning means that the Vision Document needs to become a vital element in the planning process. It will serve to investigate and develop a shared and practicable vision of the future that will inform the planning process from a local perspective replacing the remote top down directives.
So far Winchester 2020 has made presentations to the Winchester District Strategic Partnership and the Town Forum, and held preliminary talks with senior members of the City Council, meeting with reactions varying from approval in principle to considerable enthusiasm. The next step is to agree a plan of action that can be implemented in stages, to include further, more developed presentations to the Council and other organisations, and to mount a public exhibition with provision for debate and feedback. Should members of the Trust wish to make any comments or suggestions at this stage they would be very welcome.