TrustNews Dec 22

Station Approach

John Hearn on the Trust's response to the recent consultation

 

In the September TrustNews I reported on the Council's Station Approach Study Area consultation, which finished on the 21st October. During the consultation period some Trust members had meetings with the council and its consultants, and we have sent detailed consultation responses which included a number of issues. It is expected that we will be invited to further meetings.

 

It would take too long to include everything we have raised, so I thought I'd focus on a few matters. In our response we tried to follow the format of the council's on-line questionnaire which many of you will have seen.

 

We agreed with the Council's four development principles: a connected sustainable development; development for Winchester's future; high quality design; co-creating with residents, businesses and stakeholders. We asked the council to extend the first principle to include the three priorities of the adopted Winchester Movement Strategy (ie reduce city centre traffic, support healthier lifestyle choices; invest in infrastructure to support sustainable growth).

 

We emphasised that the public realm, particularly Station Hill, Station Road and pedestrian and cycle links from the station to the city centre and other parts of the city, particularly the link along Upper High Street, should be well designed with pedestrian priority and be implemented at an early date.

 

We considered that developments within the study area should include a mix of uses, including residential and commercial. We considered that given the topography of the area, large floor plate commercial development is unlikely to be suitable. We emphasised that given the sustainable location of the area and the need to respect the priorities of the Movement Strategy, no car parking (other than essential spaces) be provided to service new residential and commercial uses.

 

We emphasised the need for well-considered contextual townscape design which respects the character of the conservation area, adjacent listed buildings and the setting of the city.

 

The Council intends to report back on the consultation process over the winter period.

 

The Trust's response can be seen on our website www.cityofwinchestertrust.co.uk.