FUTURE OF WINCHESTER: A STRATEGIC VISION
The Vision: The City Boundary
The setting of Winchester in its countryside is unique, especially the hills and green wedges, which must be protected and enhanced.
These characteristics fix the position of the boundary between urban development and the surrounding country in most locations. The recently published Winchester City and its Setting is an essential reference for changes relating to that boundary. Above all, we must find a way of meeting the imposition of further housing development so that it becomes a proud addition to our heritage, rather than a creeping blight, which destroys both the quality of the City boundary and the countryside, without any compensating visual gain.
Winchester City core can only support a limited expansion of population without its character changing, as has happened to Basingstoke.
The capacity of the City needs to be calculated, and such growth as can be accepted should preferably be within the existing boundary, the City core taking a higher proportion where appropriate. Development beyond the existing boundary may be possible, but only if designed in accordance with criteria which support the principles of the compact city, and which enhance its relationship to the countryside. Any redefinition of the City boundary must be determined by the following principles:
- A stringent City-wide design strategy.
- New development to use high-quality, dense, urban forms in designed settings, for example; tree-lined streets, squares and crescents in styles appropriate to Winchester.
- The use of urban elements which clearly define `town from country', and which give a sense of arrival and departure.
We must resist the temptation to use the City's boundary as a backyard into which to dump development that is difficult to accommodate within the City.
Even uses which might be perceived as `less acceptable' must be included within the designed boundary of the City, and be subject to proper urban design. Existing urban playing fields should be retained, and not relocated to the boundary.