Silver Hill not ‘green’ enough, says FoE (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Silver Hill not ‘green’ enough, says FoE

9:25am Thursday 8th March 2007 in Silver Hill By Warwick Payne

ENVIRONMENTALISTS say the £100m redevelopment of the city centre is not green enough.

Winchester Friends of the Earth has welcomed the move to breathe new life into the area between The Broadway and Friarsgate, but says it has some concerns about the scheme.

It said the current proposal "demonstrates a failure to address the environmental impact of the scheme".

FoE said the new buildings would rely too much on fossil fuels, and argued at least 20 per cent of the power needed at Silver Hill should be produced by renewable means.

Chris Bestwick, from the group, said: "We think the developers and the council need to look again at the benefits of installing ground source heat pumps and combined heat and power plant.

"These have been made to work elsewhere and are becoming standard. We shouldn't have to be pointing this out at this late stage in the development."

The Winchester group is urging councillors not to approve Thornfield's application - unless more green measures are included.

Developer Thornfield currently proposes to build around 265 homes, 35 shops and a replacement bus station.

It has submitted an application to city planners, who are due to make a decision on Tuesday, March 27.

Thornfield said it too wanted some renewable energy systems at Silver Hill, such as solar water heaters.

But its managing director, Mike Capocci, said it was too early to reveal exact details.

"These and other measures can only be finalised during the detailed design stage, which will take place if and when Winchester City Council grants outline planning permission for the Silver Hill development," Mr Capocci said.