Peninsula Barracks - TrustNews August 1988
After a long period of apparent inertia events are now moving with some rapidity and a clearer pattern for the future is emerging.
There has been some anxiety as to whether the policies of the Winchester Area Local Plan of 1987 would be adhered to, or whether the Government would insist on a free-for-all whereby the land would be utilised to extract the maximum profit, with little or no regard to other considerations. These doubts have been largely allayed and it now seems clear that developers will be required to provide schemes which follow the Area Local Plan. The City Council has recently produced a revised Planning Brief which reflects the policies set out in the Plan.
The Brief provides that the Barracks site will be developed for the following uses:
- Residential development
- Museums, cultural, tourist, visitor and community facilities
- A hotel
- Public car parking (to serve both the site and the south sector of the City)
A limited amount of office development may be permitted.
The Brief draws a distinction between the Lower Barracks where new development is to be concentrated, and the Upper Barracks where there is to be a planning presumption in favour of conservation.
Access to the Upper Barracks is to be from Romsey Road, and to the Lower Barracks from Southgate Street by a new access road somewhere between the Wiggins Short Garage and St. Thomas's Church.
The Castle Mound is not to be masked by new development and vehicles will not be able to circulate between the two sites (except in emergency).
All development must provide its own car parking within the site, and in addition, the City Council seeks to serve the needs of the Town Centre generally. The extent of this requirement is not yet clear, but it appears that 200 spaces could be involved. Vehicular access and car parking in the Upper Barracks is to be kept to a minimum.
The Lower Barracks is to be redeveloped for housing, though small scale office, retail and/or public uses may be acceptable interspersed with the housing, particularly on the Southgate Street frontage.
Serle's House (which will be retained by the Army) is not included in the sale, but the lower site includes one Listed Building, the Garrison Church.
The Brief provides that the development should seek to reflect the general scale of buildings and small streets that are found elsewhere in Winchester and that care should be taken to provide a proper setting for both Serle's House and St. Thomas's Church. It calls for a mixture of housing styles.
The Upper Barracks site contains six Listed Buildings (the four main Barrack Blocks, the Junior Ranks Club and the Guard Room at the Romsey Road entrance).
The Brief stipulates that the Upper Barracks should be developed primarily for uses that reflect the heritage of the area, with residential and tourist facilities. There will be no building on the parade ground, which will be retained as gardens or grounds.
The Army wishes to retain some of the buildings, mainly to house military museums (i.e. those of the Royal Greenjackets, the Royal Hussars and the Gurkhas). The buildings in question are the existing Greenjackets Museum, Short Block which fronts the parade ground on the north and the Romsey Road Guard Room. Work has already started.
Hampshire County Council is interested in acquiring areas at the northern end of the site, including the Mons Block, which is parallel with the Romsey Road. Proposed uses include a museum and offices.
Winchester City Council wishes to see established a major historical exhibition centre and museum, possibly in two unlisted buildings on the north east corner of the parade ground.
The form which the development of the rest of the Upper Barracks site might take is uncertain at this stage. However, it seems possible that a hotel might replace the Officer's Mess (an extremely undistinguished building which overlooks St. James Lane) and that Long Block (the largest of the barrack blocks and which runs north and south abutting the railway line) will be converted for residential use.
The Barracks area (particularly the Upper barracks) is of immense archaeological importance. The salient on which William the Conqueror built Winchester Castle formed part of the defences of Roman Winchester (and an even earlier structure may have existed). The area was a densely built-up quarter of the Anglo Saxon town, and the buildings of two complete streets were buried below the earthworks of the Castle. The Lower Barracks covers one of the medieval streets, as well as streets and buildings of the Roman Town. The Castle, which covered a considerable proportion of the Upper Barracks and was destroyed after being besieged by Cromwell, was a highly important fortress and royal palace, particularly in the 13th century.
Charles II chose the site for a new palace trod the "King's House", modelled on Versailles and designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was built on what is now the parade ground. Although the project was never completed, the shell of the house remained and was used as a barrack from 1796 until destroyed by fire in 1894.
The archaeological importance of the area is recognised in the Brief. The site of Winchester Castle is scheduled as an Ancient Monument and as such is protected by Act of Parliament, but the Brief states the need for archaeological investigation of any site within the area on which works are to be carried out.
The whole site is within the Central Conservation Area and the Brief reiterates the Council's policy of encouraging the retention of features such as walls, open spaces and trees, in addition to historic buildings.
So far so good. Winchester City Council has its heart in the right place and it is reassuring that the provisions of the Area Local Plan will apply.
However, undoubtedly, there will be many problems ahead (relating possibly not only to architecture but to traffic) and the situation will require the utmost vigilance.
The latest position is that Agents have been appointed to dispose of the Lower Barracks site and potential developers have been invited to express an interest. Out of the applicants a shortlist of four has already been selected and a final choice is due to be made this autumn.
The short listed developers are:
- Conder Developments with P & 0
- Beazer and Charlecote
- Arundel House
- Regalian
We would like to feel assured that all the developers on this list have a successful track record of sympathetic development in a historic setting.
The Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust has written to the Chairman of the Crown Estates Commissioners asking that schemes submitted by developers should be made available for public comment before a final choice is made. We are supporting this request.
We shall be following all developments with the keenest interest and we have formed a working party which has visited the site.
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