WINCHESTER’S city council leader has defended its consultation record after more than 1,000 people took to the streets to demand their voices be heard over major development.

Cllr Rob Humby said he was “in discussions” over ways to improve the council’s communication with the public, but insisted that it does a “very good job” of consulting on schemes which came under fire at Saturday’s Winchester March.

He said that in some cases campaigners had misunderstood, forgotten, or ignored the council’s messages and changes to controversial projects including the Silver Hill redevelopment, Extra Care housing in Chesil Street, and replacing River Park Leisure Centre.

Cllr Humby, who was away on a birthday trip at the time of the march, said: “Everybody has a democratic right to make their feelings known. It’s something that we have to listen to.

“I think we do a very good job of consultation. We can be more pro-active in how we announce it and publicise it — I absolutely accept that. [But] if you don’t satisfy the people who are saying something different, they will say you haven’t consulted or haven’t listened.”

As examples of changes after consultation, Cllr Humby cited “significant changes” to parking at the Chesil Street scheme and the way the council “pushed and pushed and pushed” for Henderson to pledge £1 million towards off-site affordable housing after dropping 100 cut-rate homes from its Silver Hill proposal.

“We get frustrated when people say we haven’t consulted when we have,” he said.

“We do listen and we do make changes.”

Other misunderstandings, he claimed, included the idea that the council would build a new leisure centre across North Walls’ cricket pitches.

He said: “I met [march organiser and Save the Rec campaigner] Mike Caldwell... and told him categorically we will not build on the cricket pitch.

“There was never a case we were ever going to build right across the cricket pitch. He still doesn’t accept that we’re not.”

Addressing Silver Hill, one of the biggest issues at Saturday’s march, he said some protesters were “forgetting” that the scheme already has planning permission and has been through consultation.

He warned that unless the current scheme goes through, Winchester could end up like Portsmouth, which last week heard that 1,500 new jobs are at risk after its £300 million city centre regeneration fell through.