TWO seemingly unrelated stories are on pages one and two of this week’s Chronicle.

The first is the opposition of scores of local residents to Peter Symonds College’s plan to develop a hitherto open part of its campus.

The other is the Sparsholt College proposal for a ‘green gas mill’ which will convert harvested grass into gas and is expected to produce power for itself and the equivalent of nearly 5,000 homes a year.

It will mean an increase in tractors accessing the campus. Both stories are related in that they involve highly successful local institutions evolving in the 21st century.

Peter Symonds is now a regional college attracting students from 30-40 miles away. Sparsholt has moved from being a strictly agricultural place of learning, where people were taught how to plough in a straight line, as it too meets new demands.

In both cases people who live nearby are concerned that the quality of their lives will be impacted.

Winchester is a place that is highly sought-after, especially to live in and to study in. That creates pressure on housing, pressure on schools, as well as social services and healthcare.

Managing this issue is something that everyone who lives in this area is increasingly going to have to face.

It will take the highest skill to juggle competing demands whilst preserving what makes Winchester special.