Chairman's Miscellany - TrustNews Dec 11
As many of you will know I took the chair of the Winchester Trust at the end of September. I then immediately went on holiday for a week to recuperate from the shock!
On my return home I represented the Trust together with John Beveridge at the Civic Voice AGM in Sheffield. Civic Voice is an organisation that was put together in order to fill the gap left by the Civic Trust which had become a declining force as a body able to influence or even be heard in local or national political levels where planning and environment issues are concerned.
Judging by our participation at the AGM, Civic Voice is a young vibrant organisation with an impressive core of knowledgeable people, well able to effectively lobby where decisions are being taken that affect us all. Out of all the discussions that took place the most important was membership. The larger the membership the more an organisation will be listened to where it matters in the corridors of power. Membership level requirements filter down to us. It would be marvellous if we could increase our membership not for monetary reasons, but because it gives us more credibility when we are representing our Winchester Trust at both local and national political level on subjects that could affect us all.
The Barton Farm decision by the Secretary of State was welcomed by the Trust. Our objection to the application by Cala Homes was not dissimilar in effect to the report set out by the Secretary of State’s Department but much shorter! We recognise that this is not necessarily the end of the saga to build a development on Barton Farm. The fact is that if housing numbers required are justifiable then 4000 is the current estimate that Winchester has to accept over the next 20 years, and they have to be planned to go somewhere. The next argument is likely to be how are these numbers to be absorbed within the infra-structure required without wrecking our City and its immediate surroundings.
The Government under its Localism Bill is promoting the idea that there should be one co-ordinator appointed to take a lead in promoting a so-called neighbourhood plan for Winchester. We are proposing to put the Winchester Trust forward as a candidate for this exercise.
As many of you will probably be aware, St Cross has recently launched a ‘Friends of St Cross’ to help raise money for one of the oldest (founded around 1130) almshouses in Europe. The Trust Council agreed to support the Friends and apply to become a Corporate Member.
Lastly but by no means least, our Landscape Committee has come up with the suggestion to organise the planting of 60 trees next year to mark the occasion of the Queen’s 60th anniversary on the throne.