A MAJOR attempt to get ideas from the public for a multi-million pound Silver Hill redevelopment got underway with a roadshow.

Sunday strollers on the High Street were invited to share their vision for the site at a stall at the Sunday Market.

The roadshow will also visit Alresford, Bishop’s Waltham and Winchester train station this week.

Representatives from architects and community planners JTP were on hand to gather thoughts on how the city centre re-vamp should go ahead.

The ideas will feed into the Central Winchester Regeneration community planning weekend on March 24-25, which is set aside for workshops and sessions for the public to attend.

JTP will then report back their findings to the city council on April 4-5. It will then produce a supplementary planning document (SPD) which will be the framework for development.

Debbie Radcliffe, of JTP Architects, described the roadshow as part of a more creative process of planning.

“We want to know how people want the city to feel,” she said.

“We run the process to get people’s ideas and the actual event gets everyone together. We also hope being out here today we can talk to harder to reach groups such as younger and older people.”

The city council is attempting to resurrect the development following its collapse last year.

The council is attempting to rebuild public confidence in the planning process after it was severely dented in recent years.

The £150 million redevelopment involving flats and shops was hugely controversial, sparking major demonstrations including a 1,000-person protest march in November 2014.

It was derailed after city councillor Kim Gottlieb took his own council to the High Court and had certain procurement elements ruled unlawful. The final blow came when the city council lost confidence in the developers THRE.

At the launch of the community planning weekend last month, city councillor Victoria Weston said: “The regeneration of central Winchester is of prime importance to the city council and we are delighted to be working with JTP and their team on this important project to prepare a supplementary planning document for the area.

“This document will set a vision for the future development of central Winchester and the way in which land can be used to rejuvenate this prominent part of the city.”

What do you think? Is the consultation merely going to produce an SPD that will spawn a similar scheme to the first one?