Are you joining the Winchester March?

Saturday is coming closer and so is the Winchester March! A lot of people seem to think the march is only about Silver Hill - well, no, that's not the case!

While the lack of affordable housing in the Silver Hill project in my mind is definitely something worth protesting about, there is also the way the City Council is running consultations: do you remember the uncontrolled 'dot exercise' in Abbotts Barton in 2012? Or what about the Leisure Centre consultation that was held before the Council even had the report on a wider selection of options done?

If any of those irked you too (or maybe something else), please come and join us!

Most people should have received a postcard with the details by now. If not, here is the Winchester March website with everything you need to know: www.winchestermarch.com

Local Plan 2 exhibition for Winchester town

This afternoon I went to the exhibition about the Local Plan 2 and had a quick look around. If you can't make it there, all the exhibition boards (and a comment form) can be found on the City Council's website. Once there, click on "Draft Local Plan Exhibition Boards". The PDF document contains more than just the Winchester town boards, so after the initial general ones you can find the ones particular to Winchester town almost all the way at the end.

After listening to a conversation about the town boundary (blue line) and the fact that building rules are quite different for the area considered as countryside and how the City Council wants to protect it, I asked why the City Council is planning to build outside the town boundary, pointing to the area in the park at the end of Charles Close (see red circle on map) and was told that must be an exception to the rules. There was no more information available. After closer inspection of the map in the PDF file just now, zooming in a lot, it actually looks like the town boundary would just about allow a few houses at the end of Charles Close but it's a tight fit. Still this doesn't explain why the Council has stepped away from the Council Leader's statement made last year. When I asked about that I was told that this would be a question for the housing people. After that I gave up and decided to have another very good look at the planning documents online and then write down my comments for the Council. Consultation end time is 5 December 12 midday.