THE property advisors behind the latest Silver Hill scheme have already "gobbled up" more than £500,000.

Winchester City Council is making steady progress on its proposals with JLL as its strategic placemaking consultant.

But a recent cabinet meeting heard that £503,428 has already been given to the company.

Cllr Hugh Lumby said: "We are taking too long to consult over this. JLL has alone gobbled up £503,428 so far.

"That's equivalent to 11.8 planning job posts for a whole year. And what have we had in return? Fancy slides and delays."

Work carried out using this money includes, but is not exclusive to,a roadmap review, a competitive positioning study, testing proposals for the site, assessing delivery models, advice and planning with regard to bus provision and ongoing work on viability, financial analysis, planning and soft market testing to support the development proposals.

The meeting heard that officers are now looking for the best way to progress with the scheme, which is also known as Central Winchester Regeneration.

They need to decide whether the city council will operate as the master developer or pursue a contractual joint venture.

Former city councillor Kim Gottlieb was given chance to speak during public participation.

Alongside other members of the public he, and a couple of councillors including Conservative Cllr Caroline Horrill, are concerned about the proposals for Kings Walk.

He said: "I don’t want to criticise the idea of a creative quarter, but Kings Walk is the wrong place to put it.

"The reason is that Kings Walk is a central and large part of the regeneration area, nearly two acres in size, and it is the part that most needs regeneration. Retaining something that is so big and so ugly will crucially undermine the regeneration of the whole area.

"No amount of money will make it attractive or sustainable and to spend millions on it at a time when Council staff are being made redundant and budgets are being cut is hard to understand.

"It’s also hard to understand why nowhere in the papers is any thought given to the idea of just selling Kings Walk."

Mr Gottlieb added that the idea of retaining Kings Walk because it’s environmentally friendly "doesn’t hold water".

"Over a 10 to 50 year period, a brand new building with a CHP system and other modern technologies would be far more thermally efficient and produce far less carbon than the existing building would," he added.

"You could more easily put a much better creative quarter in a new development and, in the meantime, follow the previous plan to build a box park within the bus station. It was half the price, or better still, try to establish a creative quarter in the High Street."

Mr Gottlieb's ideas are illustrated by the attached CGI, created by Adam Architecture.

Emma Back from Winchester Sport Art and Leisure Trust also spoke during public participation.

She said: "I have serious concerns over the potential sale of the leasehold and privatisation of the Central Winchester Regeneration area. Most residents would be horrified to see the heart of the city sold off or leased to a developer.

"We hope the regeneration can deliver some of the improvements to leisure spaces that it mentioned during consultation."

Cllr Kelsie Learney responded: "We are just adding the finishing touches to seven new homes in Weeke. They have increased the permeability between Harestock and Weeke with the hope that more people will be able to walk and cycle between the two.

"The same goes at Silver Hill; we aren't just looking to perfect the buildings but the spaces between them, too."

Following concerns, Lib Dem Cllr Martin Tod insisted that the current plans to city buses are only temporary.

He said: "We are aware that our final thoughts will need to be in-keeping with the Movement Strategy. These are not the final plans for the city's buses that you can see – these are interim plans to free up the bus station for redevelopment, whilst meeting bus users' needs in the short and medium term."

He added that the stops at the bus station are not the most used in the city centre, with those in Silver Hill seeing more footfall.