City of Winchester Trust
Central Winchester Regeneration Area consultation – members’ meeting and Trust response

Over 80 Trust members and other interested residents gathered at St Peter’s Pastoral Centre on 10th January for a meeting on the City Council’s consultation on the draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for the Central Winchester Regeneration (CWR) area.

The draft SPD was prepared for the City Council by architects and master planners JTP, and involved significant research as well as detailed consultations with the public. The closing date for comments on the SPD was 5th February.

A panel made up of Richard Baker, Arthur Morgan and Sue Turner, all members of the Trust’s special project group on CWR, together with Ian Charie from Winchester City Council, addressed the audience.

Richard Baker presented the Trust’s views on the consultation document. The Trust supports much of the document, which we feel is well-informed by the research, particularly the Public Realm Framework Plan which underpins it, and the strengthening and increasing of the area’s south-north and east-west connections. However, a number of concerns remain. One of these is that more evidence-based information is needed to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposals in the document. Another is that the language in the document should be more robust, with words like ‘required’ rather than ‘encouraged’.

The evening ended with a lengthy question and answer session, when members were able to raise with Ian Charie their concerns about the document itself, as well as more general issues such as the design of the buildings in the development, the location of the bus station and the balance between retail and cultural space.

A summary of the Trust’s official response to the public consultation on the draft SPD is available.