Message from the Chairman - TrustNews Spring 1994
As we look forward to Winchester in 1994, the scene is inevitably set by what happened in the closing stages of last year.
The well-supported 36th AGM of the Trust was held in the Guildhall in early November during which I gave a brief review of what we had achieved during the past year, and our hopes for this year. The AGM was concluded by an interesting and instructive talk by the Chief Executive of the City Council, David Cowan, on the latest state of play on a pitch with ever-changing goalposts concerned with the Local Government Review. David Cowan also gave the City Council's preferred solution which involved the dissolution of the Hampshire County Council, and the transfer of its Winchester tasks to a unitary authority area responsible direct to the Government, stretching East-West along the centre of downland Hampshire, with its seat of Local Government in Winchester.
Drafting the Trust's submission to the Local Government Commission has not been easy, but its scope has been limited to safeguarding those services which directly concern the Trust. These are the welfare and prosperity of our City, development control, roads, street design including signing and lighting, traffic management and the environment of the City and its approaches.
The Commission has been told to have its recommendations submitted to the Government by the end of August 1994, but your guess is as good as anybody's as to when the Government will make its own decision. There are distinct signs that the whole exercise may have been a waste of time and money, as the Government seems to be moving towards the precept of "don't bore me with the facts - my mind is made up!"
The issue of the future of Peninsula Barracks moves slowly forward. Following the giving of planning permission in September 1993 to the scheme for the Lower Barracks that has been under the microscope of the City Council and the Trust for five years, the competition for alternative schemes is now open. Bids have to be with the MOD (the site owners) by the end of March 1994.
The Trust has contributed financially towards the work to prove the feasibility of the low-density "Conservation Scheme". This covers both the Upper and Lower Barracks, including the use of the listed buildings in the Upper Barracks for student accommodation.
The Trust remains strongly opposed to non-residential public car parking anywhere on the Barracks site, ex¬cept that directly concerned with the museums.
The Trust was represented at the Public Inquiry in September and December opposing the granting of planning permission to Tesco for a supermarket at Bar End. This long-running saga has been further delayed by the adjournment of the Public Inquiry until May 1994, in spite of the granting of planning permission by the City Council to the development of an un-named supermarket at Winnall.
Although the Trust does not oppose a supermarket at Winnall, it still considers that the needs of the greatest number of Winchester residents will be best served by a Waitrose supermarket in the Andover Road cattle market site, provided that acceptable solutions can be found to the traffic and carparking issues.
Finally, we welcome to the Council of the Trust, Antony Feltham-King, an architect working for the Cathedral architect in Salisbury and living in Winchester.