Silver Hill given green light (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Silver Hill given green light

9:53am Thursday 29th March 2007 in Silver Hill

AFTER more than a decade of talks, argument, compromise and heartache, planners have finally backed the £100m revamp of central Winchester.

Their decision came after a marathon nine-hour meeting on Tuesday, finally bringing to a close what the city council agreed in the mid-1990s - that the area between The Broadway and Friarsgate needed to be revitalised.

Years of talks ensued, and the authority selected Thornfield Properties as its favoured developer in 2003.

Draft plans to revitalise the area have been released at regular intervals during the past 18 months.

However, council planners had their first chance to tackle the scheme - dubbed the Silver Hill Renaissance - in public on Tuesday.

Around 100 people attended the meeting at the United Church in Jewry Street.

Several groups and residents lobbied councillors about the scheme that includes 264 homes, around 35 shops and a new bus station.

Pat Edwards, who chairs the City of Winchester Trust, agreed that the area needed a makeover.

But she argued that some of the new buildings - which would be up to six storeys tall - were too large.

"The one thing that this development lacks is a delight factor'," she said.

She also criticised the proposed demolition of Winchester's antiques market, which is a former Victorian warehouse.

Winchester-based architect, Huw Thomas, who has not worked on the project, said the scheme would not fit in. He added that tall buildings and narrow streets would produce a "canyon effect".

Alan Weeks, of the Winchester City Residents' Association, was worried about extra traffic. He also complained that most of the talks about the project were held "in secret".

But the scheme also had its supporters. Margaret Newbigin, group director of housing association, A2 Winchester, said the 106 affordable homes that would be created were urgently needed.

Graham Love, who chairs the Winchester City Centre Partnership, added that the makeover would provide more retail space and should "move forward without delay".

Peter Spelman, who chairs the Theatre Royal in Winchester, said it would bring more people into the city.

"Regeneration is not a dirty word," he added.

Council leader, Cllr George Beckett, also urged the committee to back the plans.

"It is the only opportunity we have for a comprehensive redevelopment, and it may well be that any alternatives will take another 10 years to come forward," he said.

His Conservative colleague on the planning committee, Cllr Anne Saunders, was still unhappy.

"I think the height of these buildings will sap the humanity from this city," she added.

However, most of the committee supported the plans.

Cllr Ray Pearce, Lib Dem, said: "It's an area of the city that has been a bit of an embarrassment."

His party colleague, Cllr Cecily Sutton, added: "Change is a scary prospect, but this is the time when we must have confidence in the developer."

Planners then approved the scheme by 12 votes to two.

After the meeting, a council spokeswoman said planning officers would now hold more talks with Thornfield, and work might start within 18 months.

* Property firm London and Henley - a major landowner in the Silver Hill area - also wants to redevelop part of the site.

It asked the council for planning permission last year, but the authority has exceeded its time limit for making a decision.

The firm has now requested that a Government planning inspector should hear its case.