Planning Appraisal Group - TrustNews December 14
September was a busy month for the Trust, with several days taken up with deliberations about the latest Silver Hill applications. This process was greatly helped by having copies of the most relevant drawings in front of us during our discussion, and by the architect coming to answer the queries and concerns that had emerged during our study of the scheme. Unfortunately our comments are much too long and detailed to be given here, and I would urge members to look on our website for the comments that were sent in to the Planning Department.
We have had several presentations to explain details for applications already under consideration. One was for Teg Down House, 29 Chilbolton Avenue, when the architect wanted to ensure that we had understood his interesting proposal to build 9 dwellings in place of the existing house — at the time of writing our comments have yet to go in. Another was an on-site visit to show us the actual aluminium tiles that it is proposed should replace those failing on the existing cladding of the link to the Winchester College Art School, 21 Kingsgate Road; this was most helpful because it would have been impossible to understand what they actually looked like from the drawings. We also asked the architect to come and explain his scheme to demolish the Snooker Centre, Radley House, 7 St Cross Road, and replace it with a detached building, as well as building four 3-bedroom dwellings in Edgar Road. This was very useful in helping us to reach our conclusion that, although they would be rather taller than those facing them on the opposite side of the road, we liked the simple design of the proposed houses in Edgar Road; it was, however, considered that the detached building fronting onto St Cross Road would detract from the simplicity of Radley House, a Listed Building, and we objected to this aspect of the scheme, suggesting that something with a design similar to the Edgar Road houses would be preferable.
We have also had a pre—application presentation of the amended scheme for an Extra Care Home in Chesil Street. This was most useful, since it explained the reasoning behind the architect's decision not to have the building fronting onto the street, which had been something that had previously worried some members. We were particularly concerned about access for the residents into the City centre, since although it was suggested that residents and their buggies could go by the Park & Ride bus that would stop at their door, we felt that quite a few might want to go into town independently when it suited them best, and then what would happen when they met a pedestrian, possibly with a push-chair, on the narrow pavements of Chesil Street and City Bridge? We felt most strongly that a foot bridge across the river, accessed via the site being considered for development next to the Chesil Theatre, should become an integral component of the scheme. This foot bridge used to be part of the local plan, but seems to have dropped out of current thinking. The City planners had negotiated a reduction in the height of two of the blocks, which is a great improvement, but we were concerned about the small size of the garden area, which it was felt could indicate that the site was too small for the development being proposed.
We now also look forward to having a presentation of the development it is proposed should replace the Hampshire Police Headquarters in Romsey Road, when the applicant and their agents are in Winchester for their exhibition and public consultation about the scheme.
It is with regret that we have to report a recent resignation by a Trust member, the reason given being that we had failed to consult him and other neighbours of a scheme before looking at the plans. We fear this may have arisen from a misunderstanding of how the Planning Appraisal Group (PAG) operates, so perhaps this is a good time to explain again how and why PAG looks at the planning applications each week. It has been doing this since the 1980s, after the Winchester City parish councils were abolished during local government reorganisation, when it was felt by the Trust that we should undertake their role as far as planning was concerned. The reason for this was because Winchester residents had been left without anyone to express local opinion, apart from their ward councillors, who are vastly outnumbered in the Planning Committee by the many councillors from the surrounding districts, where there is the added benefit of still having parish councils. It was felt important that our views should be objective, not subjective, and as a result our impartiality has been appreciated by WCC’s planners, who often suggest to developers that we should be consulted at the pre-application stage - hence the many presentations that keep us busy. This means that our role cannot be as a campaigner for personal issues, although we are of course well aware that on occasions members can have a good reason to contact us, especially if they feel that an important aspect has not been made clear in an application. Consequently, if requested, members of PAG are very happy to visit the site and take the additional information into account (if they agree with it, that is!) and have sometimes changed their previous comments as a result of such visits. Visiting sites as a matter of course is impractical because of the number of applications to be seen - in some weeks there may be as many as twenty and therefore, unless the proposal appears to be especially controversial, it is not possible to visit individual sites in the time available for making comments. ln most cases of personal concern it is better to ask that a planning officer should visit the site, if this is relevant to the problem, and to send in an objection to the Planning Office. Your ward councillors should also be contacted as they tend to have the most influence when it is a matter of individual concern.
Finally, we have also had a very pleasant and useful meeting with the St Giles Hill Residents’ Association, when we compared notes of how our two organisations operated. They carry out a similar role to the Trust as far as St Giles Hill is concerned and have produced an impressive Neighbourhood Design Statement, which has been adopted by WCC as a Supplementary Planning Document.