Welcome to Winchester Future 50 - TrustNews Sep 18
Winchester Future 50 is a pilot project devised by officers within Winchester City Council’s Historic Environment team to aid the production of conservation area management plans.
The pilot is unique as it seeks to utilise the wealth of knowledge and experience within the community to create these plans and there are a number of ways to become involved.
The Historic Environment team are proud to have been successful in securing a grant from Historic England to pilot this exciting project alongside funding from within Winchester City Council and a contribution from the Winchester Town Forum. The project will run until December 2019, and will run in two character areas within the Winchester Conservation Area which are part of Central Winchester and St Giles Hill.
What is a conservation area?
Conservation areas are part of our local environment with special architectural or historic qualities. They are established by the council, in consultation with the local community, to help preserve and enhance the specific character of these areas for everybody.
Why we need your help
The council is trialling a new way to produce Conservation Area Plans to help manage these important places for the next 50 years and beyond.
The project team, working closely with Historic England and the local community, will gather essential information about significant sites, buildings and landmarks found within the pilot areas. This information will help the council produce best practice guidance for the future management of these and potentially other sites around the District.
The information will come from photographs, visual surveys and will help create concise up-to-date conservation management plans for the two pilot areas. With the community input into Winchester Future 50, a basic visual condition survey will be created.
Cllr Caroline Brook, Winchester City Council's Cabinet member responsible for the historic environment is inviting your input:
“I am excited that this idea is being piloted by the Historic Environment team. The project team is seeking your input to gather information about the Listed Buildings found within our two pilot areas; we know people in the two pilot areas are as passionate as we are about ensuring that their unique characteristics and history are preserved, and if this is successful we will be introducing the scheme to other conservation areas around the District.“
The Conservation Area of Winchester.
Taken from Winchester Heart of a City by Andrew Rutter, with kind permission
Where are we now?
Over the last few months our time has been spent meeting many of the organisations and agencies involved in the various aspects of conservation within the areas; from to development management and including local and national voluntary groups as well as charities including the City of Winchester Trust, Hyde 900/Soldiers of Hyde, the War Memorials Trust, Civic Voice and Historic England.
A series of “themed” survey templates are being devised to help gather the relevant information for the plan and to encourage and enable “bite sized involvement” in the bigger conservation picture.
The themes will cover such subjects as “Highways, Street Surfaces and Signage”, “War Memorials” “Monuments and Public Art", “Listed Buildings", “Non-designated Heritage Assets “and “Street Scene” to name but a few.
We hope to trial these in the coming months with the invaluable input from the different sections of the local community.
What happens next?
Winchester Future 50 is happy to announce that it has arranged a free volunteer training day on Friday 21 September, at the Paul Woodhouse Suite in Winchester Cathedral to be delivered by members of the team from Historic England, on Significance:-
Designated Heritage Assets (Listed Buildings/Conservation Areas), Non-Designated Heritage Assets, Local List of Heritage Assets including the Setting of these items and general architectural photography.
If this is something you would like to be involved with, then please contact the CWT Secretary, secretary@cityofwinchestertrust.co.uk, to register your interest including the training event.
Should you require further information about the project in general then please visit
www.winchester.gov.uk/historic-environment/winchester-future-50
or contact the project team at the Council via: winchesterfuture50@winchester.gov.uk