The future of Bushfield Down - TrustNews Mar 12
View of Bushfield Down
The Trust Policy Group has been working on behalf of the Trust to challenge the Council's latest proposal to define Bushfield Camp as an "Opportunity Site" in its new plan. The site is in a sensitive location, forming part of the Winchester/Compton Street Local Gap, immediately adjoining the South Downs National Park. The Council is still promoting this area for possible business or institutional use although there is no longer any specific reference to a "Knowledge Park".
We were surprised when the Council proposed at the end of the Blueprint exercise to put forward this novel concept of an "Opportunity Site" for Bushfield, and then include it in this new plan as one of only three positive policies for Winchester Town. We are still not aware of any proper definition of the term "Opportunity Site" in the planning process and consider that firm policies promoted in a Local Plan should be clear and capable of being delivered.
The most recent advice to the Council from its own consultants effectively ruled out use as a "knowledge park" at this site on economic grounds. It is therefore a puzzle to us that the City should now seek to resurrect development ambitions for Bushfield Down with an open invitation to developers for this "opportunity site".
Representations have to be made to the Council before 12 March and we will argue that this new policy proposed for Bushfield should be rejected by the Independent Inspector who will examine the Council's proposals in the summer. We can find no evidence at all put forward by the Council to justify this new policy and there was certainly no public consultation to test this concept of an "opportunity site" during the recent Blueprint exercise.
We will be reminding the Council that this green hillside to the south of Winchester, looking over the Itchen Valley and part of the strategic gap, is key to the setting that makes Winchester unique amongst cathedral cities. From St Catherine's Hill, the very finest of vantage points and a 'gateway' to the National Park, it is still possible to see St Cross Hospital as it would have been seen nearly 900 years ago, backed by the unspoilt hillside of Bushfield Down. The use of the old camp-site was abandoned nearly half a century ago. In our view there can be no justification for replacing the rusting skeletons of two sheds with a rash of new buildings on the site. These would be certain to be visible from across the valley as indeed is even the surface of the old parade ground.
The Council's full Local Plan is now available on the Council's website. The proposals for Bushfield are on pages 41-44 of the plan.
It is of course open to any member of the public who shares our concerns about Bushfield to respond individually to the present consultation exercise before the closing date of Monday 12 March
.