WINCHESTER civic chiefs have appointed a designer for their multi-million pound development of Station Approach.

This follows from a heavily criticised design competition which saw three of the five shortlisted architects drop out.

The remaining firms, Design Engine from Winchester and Hopkins Architects from London, submitted designs to a jury of experts which included architects, urban designers, engineers and councillors.

They recommended bidder B, believed to be Hopkins, to the cabinet which was approved at the cabinet meeting.

However, many at the meeting questioned the competition, with City of Winchester Trust vice chairman Michael Carden saying it focused too little on design.

"There is a growing concern that the schemes do not express the character of Winchester. The commercial and finance side of the designs has been covered with very well. However, the design aspect has not been efficiently covered."

He added: "I think the designs put forward do not reflect the character of the city."

However, council leader Stephen Godfrey dismissed these concerns.

"That is what we will have. A building that will reflect the character of the area."

The Station Approach scheme consist of two sites near the railway station, the Carfax area and the former cattle market.

The city council wants to promote the site for a national company headquarters as well as housing.

But residents say both schemes are promoting overdevelopment of the area.

Winchester resident Terry Gould said: "The architects both said that the site could more development than the brief says. I think that the plans have overdeveloped it enough.

"We have a some what overdeveloped site here and an underdeveloped transport. This needs to be addressed."

However, city council chief executive Simon Eden said the designs were just a broad outline and not something that was ready to be put to planners.

Chris Higgins, former director of estates at Winchester University, said he had lost faith with the council.

He admitted: "I tried to be as supportive as I could but I have lost confidence that the city council has what it takes to develop the best scheme. I am really sad because I tried to help but I think the whole thing is going off the rails."

The architect also accused the council of not being transparent enough during the competition process.

"We have not seen a detailed score (from the jury) published for bidder C.

"Forty per cent of the marks were commercial. This is supposed to be a design competition not a commercial one!

He added: "I am not convinced that (the scores for bidder B) have not been skewed."

Cllr Godfrey blasted Mr Higgins saying it was unfair to express this accusation.

He added: "That is not fair for you to come here and claim this. It is detrimental to the jury and the council."

Corporate director Steve Tilbury said: "The detail for bidder C's score is not in the report because there were unsuccessful in their application."

The environmental impact of the site was also questioned. Chris Gillham from Winchester's Friends of the Earth said the scheme was an "Ill-conceived project" branding it Silver Hill 2.

But Chris Holloway, director of Winchester Against Climate Change (WinACC), said she was pleased the architects were striving to make the buildings more environmentally friendly.

Nevertheless, despite much local opposition, there was also a lot of support for the scheme.

Ken Macartney, chair of Winchester BID's board of directors, said more business space was welcomed.

"There are 111 business in the Winchester districts," added Mr Macartney. "Winchester BID has been supportive of the scheme since its conception. We feel the need to retain large businesses in the city is a must, as well as bringing in new one to settle here.

"New office and retail space increases jobs and adds another reason to visit the city of Winchester."

The plans were approved by cabinet to move forward with the scheme, appointing bidder B – Hopkins Architects – as the designer.

Tina Frost, RIBA client advisor of Fleet Architecture, was appointed as the design champion.