TrustNews Jun 22
Planning in Winchester
Keith Leaman profiles Jack Thompson, Winchester's first Director of Planning, and gives some thoughts on planning in the City today.
Jack Thompson
In 1974, local government was reorganised so that Winchester became Winchester and District. The reorganisation meant that many of the towns and villages that surround Winchester came under one administration. Prior to 1974, Winchester City was an authority with responsibility just for the City itself, with a City Council and a Town Clerk. The Council had limited control over planning matters, but in 1974 this changed, and the new Planning Department took on responsibility for development control, forward planning, conservation and tree preservation orders, all of which had been managed previously by Hampshire County Council. Jack Thompson was appointed as Director of Planning.
Prior to his appointment, Jack had been responsible for running many of the planning issues concerning the southern areas of the county, during his time as Assistant Director of Planning at the County Council, so he was a natural choice for the new post. Jack was a qualified architect and planner, and as Director of Planning he represented the planning department at the top table of the new Council.
As an architect, Jack had been employed by Eric Lyons, one of the leading architectural practices of the 60s and 70s, so he was well able to judge what constituted good and bad buildings and the planning implications that could affect an area. Two other ingredients Jack had were diplomacy and leadership qualities. Partly because of his abilities, he attracted a very strong team of planners to work in the new department, many who stayed throughout his tenure, giving the department continuity. The department commanded respect from both councillors and the public and also from the professionals who were directly involved with the planning process.
A difficult start - the M3 extension and the ring road
M3 extension construction, 1993 (Photo City of Winchester Trust)
The early days of the new planning department were a baptism of fire, for they inherited both the M3 extension being put forward at that time by the Department of Transport, and a proposal to create a three quarter inner ring road around Winchester, both of which were likely to have a detrimental impact on Winchester's conservation areas.
The route being proposed by the Department of Transport, regardless of the damage to the City, was through the water meadows and then through Otterbourne, this no doubt being considered as the cheapest route. The M3 became a cause celebre nationally, and the new planning department was at the forefront of preparing and then presenting evidence at public enquiries. These were crucial in the decision to move the route south and east to the current position - not ideal, but a good deal better than the previous proposal. Jack and his team would have preferred a tunnel, but the government considered this a financial step too far.
The three quarter ring road proposal was being promoted by Hampshire County Council as well as Winchester City Council. For the City Council it meant a substantial amount of money, as the route opened up large scale development possibilities ranged along the foot of St Giles Hill. It was recognised by the new planning department how damaging such development was going to be to the conservation area, and to the setting. Jack Thompson managed to convince Councillors and a reluctant Chief Executive of the errors of their proposals, and both the inner ring road and the oversized development were dropped, the only vestige left of the scheme being the multi-storey car park.
Winchester High Street in 1973 before pedestrianisation (Photo City of Winchester Trust)
One visionary scheme that has brought a positive impact on Winchester was the pedestrianisation of the High Street, not a popular choice by all at the time, but the planning department thought it well worth fighting for.
There were of course many other issues that had to be dealt with during Jack Thompson's era, but they were generally dealt with respect, knowledge and imagination, as well as guidance to all concerned when necessary.
Since the mid-90s planning has changed. Planning has been downgraded in its influence within all local planning authorities, shown by the loss of the Director of Planning post among the most senior officers. In Winchester the department does not have the time or money to advise on and debate applications. The strategic planning department has less of a role within the City Council, and development control has taken a goalkeeping position rather than a proactive one. The end result has often been some poor decision-making, resulting in the waste of public money. On top of this is the loss of experienced planning officers, caused by over 10 year's of austerity squeezing local government budgets.
Winchester now appoints outside consultancies to help with decisions on strategic planning matters. This has produced mixed results. So much depends on the quality of the firms appointed, the quality of the briefing they receive and the judgemental ability of the departments involved when analysing results.