Chairman's Jottings - TrustNews Mar 14
We seem to be approaching the end of round one of the Barton Farm saga. Cala Homes and their consultant teams are making final adjustments to stage 1 of the proposed housing scheme. This no doubt will set the scene for all the housing to be built on this site over the years to come. The Trust has tried hard to influence the layout and aesthetics of this scheme with some success. However, Winchester is likely to end up with a comparatively low density, car dominated layout with a wide avenue slicing through the middle. The scheme appears better than some, but it is still, in my opinion, 1960s thinking. One would have thought there was an opportunity to break the mould and have some fresh, innovative thinking, which should start with a good brief from Winchester City's Planning Department. I am still a little puzzled as to where all the new inhabitants are going to work, shop and play and how they are going to relate to Winchester. If some go to London, the commuter trains are already over-subscribed. Central Winchester has super-saturated car problems, and will they all walk, cycle, or catch the buses’? I personally don't think I have seen a convincing answer to what I see as a potential problem.
As many of you have no doubt noticed there has been and still is controversy revolving around the leisure centre. Not a particularly edifying building, none the less, it has provided a popular amenity since it was built in the 1970s. We assume that after forty plus years the building has reached a stage where it is becoming very expensive to run and therefore consideration has to be given to its up-grade or replacement. It would appear that an up-grade is not as economic as total renewal. Coupled with any decision is whether the amenity should be kept going during a new building process which could possibly take two years or so. Hence considering a new site is attracting still further controversy! The position of a new site appears to boil down to two proposals, one on the car park adjacent to the recreation centre and the other adjacent to the playing field area at the end of Chesil Street. The Trust is well aware of the on-going debate and is waiting to hear answers to a series of questions we have submitted to the Local Authority, so that we can fully understand the problems and make a considered response. If the building is to be rebuilt, let us hope it is going to be a great addition to the City that we can all be proud of.
I have been reading a dissertation by an MA student, Michael Nelles, at Winchester University on the subject of urban redevelopment and the rise of the historic buildings conservation movement in Winchester (see notice of his forthcoming lecture on page 9). It has been fascinating to read about past struggles to resist damaging demolition to make way for attempts to ‘modernise’ street forms by widening them, providing car parking, all of which meant the wholesale destruction of hundreds of buildings, many of them listed. All of this was to accommodate vehicle movement, considered by strategic planners to be of paramount importance if Winchester was to be economically successful and competitive. This thinking was being repeated in many other historic towns throughout the country; in fact it has been said that government and local authority legislation demolished more historic town centres than war-time bombing. Winchester only had one bomb! So, with this background, local trusts were formed to counter these extreme policies. The Winchester Preservation Trust was formed in 1957 as a reaction to proposals by the City Council to demolish the Brooks area to make way for car parking, a battle we lost but at least it turned the tide of destructive policies.
Development around Winchester continues apace and we have one of the biggest developments in Winchester's history at Barton Farm which will add significant numbers to Winchester's population. We have the potential of a much needed renewal in the Station approach area where as far as we are concerned ‘nothing but the best is acceptable’. There are threats to Bush?eld Camp with possible future development and also new housing planned to the south of Winchester at Pitt. We try hard to monitor these situations and attempt to improve proposals where possible. We have had our successes and failures; nevertheless the work we undertake is always done with the aim not only to respect our unique City but also to improve its well being.