A look at the scrubland at Hillier Way - consultation upcoming!

A happy new year to everybody!

Last week at the local councillor's surgery I heard that the city council was planning to hold another consultation event regarding the scrubland at Hillier Road. According to info I received from the Scouts since then, this event will be on Saturday 25 February. The council should soon send a leaflet to residents with the consultation details, just as it did with other events in the area.

Over the last weeks, the city council has been busy with clearing the area as it was completely overgrown with brambles and almost inaccessible.

This morning I went there and had a look, here are some photos (click on them to enlarge):

I came in via the car park at Hillier Road and looked towards the
air cadet's building. This area is the land which could house the Scouts.

I made my way onto one of the elevated areas
(which seem to form a border around the terrain nearer the 'hole in the wall')
to get a better look at the cleared area behind the car park.

Here again is the area between the car park and the air cadet hut.

I turned around and moved on beyond the elevated border
and found a spade and some pliers.

I made my way through the area behind the border and arrived
at the other end near the 'hole in the wall' in Abbotts Barton and
turned back to take this photo.

Somebody dug some steps into the border a while ago.
Here as seen from the entrance near the 'hole in the wall'.

The consultation presentation should bring some clarity about what the city council wants to do in terms of landscaping and also how much land exactly could be going to the Scouts and how much should be available to the public.

What has been going on in 2016?

Hello, it's been a while since this blog has been used and it's time for a check-in.

First of all, the proposed changes to how the land is used in Abbotts Barton (and in Winchester in general) are part of the Local Plan Part 2 as submitted to the government inspector earlier this year. The inspector created a report which now needs to be adopted and therefore is under consultation. You can leave comments at the online WCC consultation on the proposed modifications of Local Plan Part 2 - which closes "no later than noon on 12 December 2016"! Comments can also be sent by email to ldf@winchester.gov.uk. This has all been communicated via the Parish Connect Newsletters and there is also a Local Plan eNewsletter that you can subscribe to.

As was planned by the City Council, Houses are currently being built at Hillier Road which will provide 13 new dwellings. The photo shows the info displayed on site. More information can be found on the New Council Housing - Abbotts Barton and On Site Schemes pages and on the Application Summary page on the WCC website.

This loss of open land to the community has prompted WCC to look again at the scrubland behind the car park at the bottom of Hillier Road (also know as the Cadet Site), opposite the football club. It seemed originally that nobody was interested in doing anything with this land after the Council declined to use this area for new houses (see the Planning Report on the Scrubland at Hillier Way, May 2013 on the Council website). However, this year there were negotiations between the Council, the Scouts and the Abbotts Barton Commuity Group as to how it should be used going forward. The idea is that the Scouts get a portion of it that they can fence off (for safe-guarding reasons) and erect a building on for a local Scout group. The rest would then be opened up for the general public, with a part being looked after by Hampshire Wildlife Trust and the WCC Landscaping Team to become an area for walking and enjoying nature, and another to be an open grassy area (see also the Abbotts Barton Community Group August 2016 Update). There were some further public consultations promised but later cancelled.

As for the Dyson Drive green, the Village Green Application has not been decided on yet. It is still 'under investigation' according to this Hampshire County Council table from August 2016:

Most importantly, no new plans to build on the main Chaundler Road parkland (apart from at the bottom of Charles Close) have surfaced. The main park is actually well used these days, probably better than it ever was before the City Council shocked the community with its house building plans: just this week students were there for almost every day during the daytime to practice land surveying; on the weekends and lighter evenings there are often exercisers and football players; and in the summer monthly community picnics were taking place.

That's seems to be it for 2016. Have a good transition into 2017 whatever your plans are and thank you for your support!

Local Plan Part 2 updates

Today's Parish Connect newsletter had this section about how Winchester City Council are progressing with the Local Plan Part 2 in it; the link takes you to all the representations made by residents:

Local Plan Part 2 - Development Management and Site Allocations Feedback from consultation

The Council has recently uploaded onto its website all the representations received through the consultation on Local Plan Part 2 (LPP2) held during October – December 2014. These can be viewed at http://documents.winchester.gov.uk/LPP2/Default.aspx Over 1,100 representations were received, making some 2000 comments covering a range of matters dealt with by LPP2.
Two Local Plan Committees have now been scheduled for 12th March and 30th March 2015. These meetings will receive reports summarising the issues raised and suggesting an appropriate course of action. In the majority of cases, the representations raise issues that need further work and assessment which will then be reported back to the Local Plan Committee during late May/early June. At this stage, decisions will be made as to which sites to allocate for development. The Strategic Planning team will be contacting those Parish Councils covering the larger settlements shortly to go through the issues raised and discuss how these may be resolved. The first Local Plan Committee meeting on 12 March will include schedules for Colden Common, Kings Worthy, Swanmore, Waltham Chase, Wickham and South Hampshire Urban Areas. The remainder of the Plan will be covered at the meeting on 30 March.
The Council is still hoping that it will be able to publish the Pre-submission version of LPP2 during July. If so, consultation will be over the summer period (hence the early notification) and is likely to be for a longer period than the normal 6 weeks.  This period of consultation will focus on ‘soundness’ issues prior to the Plan being formally submitted for examination later in the year. 

(Links: Full newsletter email in your browser / Parish Connect on the Winchester.gov.uk site)

Councillors agreed to revisit the potential of unused sites

On Saturday there was an article in the Hampshire Chronicle ("Planners considering adding extra houses to 2,000-home Barton Farm development") reporting that there are "new government guidelines allowing firms to avoid the payments on small-scale projects" which "will cost the council up to £920,000". This means a shortfall for the affordable housing budget. Winchester Cabinet members are now thinking about adding extra houses to the Barton Farm project and "fringe countryside and urban plots previously deemed unnecessary may also be developed".

Following that, a look at the 14 January WCC Cabinet meeting agenda (meeting notes not available yet) yielded item 9 to be "Changes to Government Guidance on Planning Obligations – Impact on Affordable Housing Provision" which was accompanied by a report (PDF file) of the assistant director (chief housing officer), page 6 mentions "Abbots Barton" (sic) as an example for possible developments:

"Therefore, while there is no planning policy requirement to identify more landfor housing, whether affordable or market, Members could choose for reasonsof housing policy to take a more proactive approach to developing ‘exception’sites, particularly in Winchester, just as is being proposed by Draft Local Plan2 Policy WIN 9 for Abbots Barton. If so, the scale and scope of any sitesearch would need to be carefully defined given the number and scale of sitesaround the Town which are being promoted for development through theSHLAA and Local Plan Part 2. Local Plan Policy CP4 allows for “exceptions”affordable housing sites to be allocated in order to maximise affordablehousing provision. Such housing would be considered to be additional to“general” housing supply for the purposes calculating delivery of the District’soverall housing targets. Such an approach has the potential to compensatefor affordable housing foregone as a consequence of changes to nationalplanning guidance. It also provides the opportunity to accelerate the rate of delivery (and increase overall supply) in order to meet housing needs morequickly, efficiently and effectively." 

This is definitely something to be watched to make sure that our much loved park is not becoming a target for development again.

Affordable housing is definitely needed, however a healthy balance needs to be found between building density and open spaces. On that note, here is a Guardian article from earlier in January that struck a note: "Children in our towns and cities are being robbed of safe spaces to play".

January morning sunshine at Abbotts Barton green

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.

Draft Winchester District Local Plan Part 2 available to view

The meeting agenda for the Cabinet meeting on Monday 22 September has been published.

Here is a short guide to some of the information from the presented documents (this guide is by no means meant to be complete):

The information about what the Council are aspiring to do in Abbotts Barton is in Chapter 3 (170KB), here is a quote:

3.7.18 The Framework identifies sites for up to 50 new affordable houses to help meet the shortage of affordable housing in the area, although only around 37 are likely to be delivered in the short to medium term. These include; about 12 dwellings at Hillier Way; about 9 dwellings at Dyson Drive; 4 dwellings at Hussey Close; 4 dwellings at Austen Close; and around 8 dwellings at the south eastern end of Charles Close.

3.7.19 The Planning Framework took into account feedback from the two consultation events held in October and December 2012, as well as various studies undertaken in the area including topographical, environmental, and historical surveys.

3.7.20 Due to a number of responses which suggested that new housing might be provided behind the car park near to the football club, a Planning Report was prepared by an external Planning Consultant to assess whether this area was suitable for housing development. The conclusions were that there are strong and compelling reasons for not developing this site for housing. These relate to the physical and social separation from the existing housing areas to which any future development should connect, the loss of an important and unique open space which has significant value for the contribution its makes to a larger green area, including its value to the setting of the adjoining National Park. However, the potential to improve this open space which might include some form of community facility will be considered.

3.7.21 The Council will continue to work with the community to translate the Planning Framework into a detailed strategy and to develop a Community Plan to help articulate and achieve the community’s aspirations. This will include developing a Community Letting Plan for the new homes which will give priority to local people who need affordable housing, and a review of Council garage usage to improve their benefit to the local community.

3.7.22 The Council will also investigate measures to ensure that the values captured from the developments are reinvested in the local area In particular it will ensure that adjacent scrubland is reclaimed for the benefit of the local community, and compensates for green space lost through development.

There is a general map of the area in Policies Map 6 (4.8MB, page 6) but it does not show much detail. The explanation for the markings can be found in Policies Map 1 (2.9MB, page 4). You can see that the Abbotts Barton park and the green at Dyson Drive are all marked as Protected Areas (referenced to "Policy DM5"). There was no explanation for Policy DM5 but it says "Development Management policies to be added" in Appendices A-E, so this might be the missing information.

Also interesting: Appendix 3 (1,9MB, page 42) shows the open space details for St Bartholomew Ward.

For details some of the PDF documents are linking through to the Local Plan Part 2 - Development Management & Allocations pages on the Council's website, and when you click your way through (via Winchester Town) to Abbotts Barton you get to see the very same documents from February 2013 that the Abbotts Barton Community Group had linked to in their post about the LDF:

Abbotts Barton Planning Framework part 1 (PDF, 24.7 MB) version from February 2013
Abbotts Barton Planning Framework part 2 (PDF, 22.4 MB) version from February 2013

So it looks like these plans are still what the Council is going to use going forward.

News about council house development plans for Abbotts Barton

Have you seen the latest post about the Local Development Framework part 2 briefing on the Abbotts Barton Community Group website? Please read: Abbotts Barton housing development plans almost back to square one!

It seems the Council Leader's announcement from 11 September 2013 is worth nothing after only one year: "Councillor Wood stated that when more funds became available from 2016 onwards, schemes in Westman Road, Weeke; Wilberforce Close and Somers Close, Stanmore; and Hillier Way and two garage sites at Chaundlers Road and Hussey Close, Abbotts Barton would be developed. He stated that there were no plans to develop Dyson Drive or Charles Close in Abbotts Barton in the foreseeable future."

It is good news that the main stretch along Charles Close seems to have been removed from new development plans as the community made it very clear that it would not like houses there at all. And WCC promised in today's press release that "plans also feature improved open space, recreation and community facilities, possibly including a new community building on waste land at the bottom of Hillier Way."

The land surrounding the Symonds Court buildings at Hillier Way is still the priority number one for the Council to build on.

However, instead of the two garage sites there is talk again about building on Dyson Drive green (despite a yet to be decided village green application) and (at least only) at the very end of Charles Close. Colbourne Court has been dismissed due to problems with ownership, and the garage sites have been described as too difficult to deal with. While all of us can have different opinions on whether there should be houses on any of these areas, it is undeniable that there seems to be something like a U-turn here!

There will be a consultation stage again - we are hoping that Abbotts Barton's residents will attend in even bigger numbers this time and use this opportunity again to have their say!

Have your say - Winchester City Council is developing its Local Plan Part 2

For the St Bartholomew Ward there will be a meeting on Saturday 1 March at 1 pm, at Winchester Discovery Centre (drop-in session). 

Winchester City Council issued this information (and more) on 11 February via a press release "Planning for the future of Winchester town":

"Winchester City Council is developing its Local Plan Part 2, which will include detailed planning policies for the next 15-20 years.
The Council is launching a series of events to discuss future planning issues which will be open to anyone interested in the future of the city.
The purpose of the events is to set out the planning issues currently facing Winchester town and to give people opportunity to discuss these.
Officers will give an update on the current planning situation in the local area and outline the next steps in preparing the Local Plan Part 2. This will provide an opportunity to discuss local needs and future planning issues in the area, particularly those that can be addressed through the Local Plan."

There is also a link to a Winchester Town page (within the framework of the Local plan pages) which has links to these documents:

Assessment of Windfall Trends and Potential in Winchester
Open Space Assessment

The second document underlines the lack of open space in regards to "Equipped Children’s and Young People’s Play Space", "Informal Green Space", and "Parks and Recreation Grounds" that we have been talking about all of last year. At the same time the document states that there are sufficient "Sports Grounds" - however the areas that are listed are quite different in regards to how they are available to the public (just compare North Walls Recreation Ground with a school playing field).

If you are interested at all in the Council's plans for Winchester please consider going to the meeting on 1 March!

The Leisure Centre project - have you responded to the council?

Time is running out to respond to the council on the Leisure Centre project consultation, the deadline is midnight on Monday 2 December.

Did you go to the open meeting organised by the Save the Rec group last Monday? If so, you will know that people who attended agreed that the best answer would be to tell the council that none of the presented options is acceptable, due to lack of information presented with them.

Whatever your opinion is, please let the council know:

Leisure Centre project online with link to online survey

Here are some recent reports:

Hampshire Chronicle: Winchester meeting hears leisure centre options withheld from public consultation
Winchester Today: Winchester RPLC plans “like GCSE project”
WINOL (video): Hundreds gather for 'Save the Rec' meeting
Abbotts Barton Community Group blog: The council's Leisure Centre consultation and the Save the Rec meeting

And of course the Save the Rec website.

Another green area to be built on - save our recreation ground!

As published by the Abbotts Barton Community Group:

Whether or not you are using the leisure centre and the recreation grounds at North Walls for sports, the plans of the Council to build a new centre on one of the North Walls recreation grounds should be looked at by all of us as they will affect most of us in many ways.

If you are not familiar yet with the Council's proposal please read the information provided via the Save The Rec website. There is also a link to the full Council proposal.

Most importantly: there is some chance that Councillor Keith Woods will bring his proposal to a vote at the council meeting on 6 November. If you want to write to councillors on this issue (the more the better), aim to do it before then.

On Friday (11 October) Radio Solent had a feature about the campaign in the Julian Clegg show, starting at 1:09. If you are interested, the show can be listened to for another five days.

The October edition of winchestertoday had a great editorial on the same subject:

By the way, the Save The Rec group are now also using Twitter and Facebook which for most of us are easier to follow than a website:

Twitter - Save The Rec
Facebook - Save The Rec

If you are concerned about the Council's plans please follow/like (or sign up with your email on their website) to show the group your support AND write to the Council!

The Council Leader's announcement from 11 September

Here is the actual announcement as per the 11 September Cabinet meeting notes (emphasis done by us):

Councillor Wood gave an announcement on the latest situation regarding the new homes building programme. In summary, the first priority would be the three schemes already on site which were due for completion in March 2014: Dever Close, Micheldever; Bourne Close, Otterbourne; and Station Close, Itchen Abbas. Over the next three years, it was proposed to take forward another three major schemes: The Queens Head, Stanmore; Victoria House, Winchester; and an “Extra Care” housing scheme for elderly people. If additional funds became available, small sites in Alresford, Colden Common, Otterbourne and Swanmore would be considered. Councillor Wood stated that when more funds became available from 2016 onwards, schemes in Westman Road, Weeke; Wilberforce Close and Somers Close, Stanmore; and Hillier Way and two garage sites at Chaundlers Road and Hussey Close, Abbotts Barton would be developed. He stated that there were no plans to develop Dyson Drive or Charles Close in Abbotts Barton in the foreseeable future.

Can you hear the sigh of relief coming from the community? :)

Save The Rec and Save The Parks / the Council's plan for the Leisure Centre

As today's leading article in the Hampshire Chronicle confused our campaign with the newly set up Save The Rec group here are few items to help you along:

• The article itself: Anger growing over leisure centre plans at River Park in Winchester 
• The Save The Rec website is here: http://savetherec.weebly.com/ 
• Also later today there will be a meeting held by the Council: Meeting about future of River Park Leisure Centre. (Please note that you will have to register your interest and reserve a seat to take part in the meeting. This wasn't very clear from the press release. Apparently members of the Leisure Centre have been invited - however in our household we never got an invite despite my son having a swimming membership. This should really be an open meeting as the plans affect far more people than just those with a membership at the Leisure Centre.)

There are a number of concerns about the Council's plans:

Loss of open space
During the Save The Parks campaign a number of residents of Abbotts Barton have been told by city officers that the parkland in Abbotts Barton is not that important to keep intact as there is always North Walls Recreation Ground. Needless to say, we disagree with that completely: a) North Walls is not in view by houses in Abbotts Barton (important when you have children), and b) always very busy, you can't just go there and do a community event on the weekend without colliding with many other people and groups. And now a big part of it is supposed to be built on? If the councillors keep coming up with more ideas for the destruction of green spaces in Winchester, soon all of Winchester will have to make do with whatever little space is left at North Walls! Great prospect.

Yes, we do understand that the Leisure Centre can't go on for much longer in its current state and we also understand that it needs to cater for more people than just Winchester residents -  and we also love that it's close to us. But maybe there is another way, for example splitting it up into two, with possibly a swimming pool at Bar End and an update to what exists currently?

Traffic
Also a new improved Leisure Centre as per the current plans of the Council would create quite a lot more traffic into the dead end system of Gorden Road, right past a busy school, St. Bede's. This of course is troubling parents who want to make sure they and their children can walk to school safely. And of course it would also affect the people living along those roads.

Even if the traffic flow would be changed to a one way system (in at Gordon Road, out via Park Avenue) this would not be great as there are currently a play area and a skate park which would then possibly be right next to the road, or even worse divided by it.

Equally, the path along the field in question is already very busy as it is not only one of the main walking routes to school and into town but also used a lot by cyclists (it is a shared path). Careful planning would have to be done here to make this safer for both parties, pedestrians and cyclists!


The main thing to remember is that once open space is gone, it's gone forever!

If these plans trouble you, we can only recommend for you to write to Winchester City Council once again.

Winchester City Council has removed the Abbotts Barton parks from its current council house building programme!

At last week's Cabinet meeting Council Leader Keith Wood made an announcement about an update to Winchester's council house programme. He detailed which local housing schemes will be going through and which won't be due to limited finances.
 
Over the next three years Winchester Council will not be building any new houses in Abbotts Barton! However  - when more resources will become available again -, Hillier Way and the two garage sites (also Westman Road in Weeke) are still supposed to be developed, probably within five years.

The main park in Abbotts Barton and Dyson Drive green which we were fighting for to be kept as they are (clear of houses) were not mentioned at all, so for now these should be safe. What a shift in focus by the Council!

Of course this is great news for the Abbotts Barton community and Winchester in general, and we are very happy that going forward we will be able to use our parks as we used to!

Many thanks to everybody who supported our campaign in so many different ways:

• Preparing and handing in an application for a village green status for Dyson Drive green.
• Writing petitions and spending hours going from house to house to get signatures.
• Researching numbers, laws, and maps to help with the campaign.
• Reading through Council meeting papers and reports to find information and report that back to the group.
• Attending and speaking at Council meetings on behalf of the community.
• Writing letters and emails to councillors and city officials.
• Engaging in regular conversations with councillors about what is going on.
• Engaging with the media in various ways to get our campaign out into the public.
• Running a website and Twitter account to keep everybody informed.

We are also very grateful to have received so many messages of support via our petition website!

How to stay connected
We are planning to keep an eye on Council's development plans for Abbotts Barton. If you would like to stay up-to-date over the coming years, you have a several options to do so. Using these automated options saves you from having to come back to our website manually every so often to catch news:

• Sign up with your email address to our website (this will ensure that you will get an email every time we post something here which most likely won't be very often).  
• Follow the Save The Parks Twitter account.

Alternatively you can stay in touch with what is happening via the Abbotts Barton Community Group:

• Sign up with your email address to the Abbotts Barton Community Group website (again this will ensure you will get an email every time something will be posted, this will probably be once a week on average).
• Follow the Abbotts Barton Community Group Twitter account
• Like the Abbotts Barton Community Group Facebook page.

Watch this spot!

We have received some very exciting news about changes to the council house building programme that were announced in today's Cabinet meeting. However, before we can give you any confirmed details we are still awaiting more information. Watch this spot!

Dates for the calendar and in the media

Dates for the calendar

Just a quick reminder that the next Councillor's Surgery is not long to go: Thursday 1 August, 7:30pm to 8:30pm, at Hyde Parish Hall.

We are also trying to use our park the best we can before it's full with houses, therefore the Abbotts Barton Community group has the next Picnic & Play event lined up for 11 August! Let's hope for good weather (we are back to normal obviously).

In the Media - July so far

20/07/13: Hampshire Chronicle says Civic chiefs will mitigate lost open spaces but quotes Cllr Tait saying "there will be occasions where the council will consider the loss of open space in favour of the housing". We say: build on the brownfield sites first!

11/07/13, HC (paper edition only): Hundreds sign petition to save green space

07/07/13, DE: 500 sign up to save precious green space at Abbots Barton near Winchester

Other housing related news:

22/07/13, HC: Scouts in plea for more Barton Farm facilities - wouldn't it be nice to have something like that on the land near the Cadet building, possibly combined with a community facility. One can dream!

25/07/13, HC: Concerns over proposed housing development in north Winchester
18/07/13, HC: Winchester is left half a million pounds in will

15/07/13, DE: Developers put Littleton housing plan up for consultation12/07/13, HC: Big interest from developers in Hampshire Police HQ in Winchester
11/07/13, HC: Landowner proposes housing in Winchester green gap
03/07/13, HC: Future of Stanmore's New Queen's Head to be examined by council survey
02/07/13, HC: Winchester's new council homes project on track, officers insist

All of these article links (and many more) can also be found on our Media tab.

Please don't forget to write to the Winchester City Councillors to urge them 
to NOT build on the Abbotts Barton parks!

(Photo taken by one of our neighbours at Octavia's Orchard, see http://www.what-if.info/.)

What can YOU do to save the parks?

It is nice to have a group of people who run a campaign to save a park. It is also great that we got more than 500 signatures on our petition. We've been on the radio and in the papers. We have been to council meetings and had speakers on our behalf there.

However, Winchester City Council is not interested in what we are saying and some questions have never received answers - as apparently to them it seems like a campaign by just a few people.

So, this is where everybody who has an opinion on losing the parks in Abbotts Barton comes in, that includes YOU! We simply cannot keep going without more people having their say individually!

The good news is, that it is actually quite easy to have your say!

You don't need to call anybody or speak at a council meeting, you don't need to be on the radio or in the papers. All it takes is a short letter or an email to some or all of the people we have listed on our Action! tab. There is no need to worry about your writing skills or whether it needs to be very formal. All you need to do is to write something that lets the councillors at Winchester City Council know what you think about their plans. If you could include that you 'object' to some or all of their plans, they have to take it into consideration. To help you along we have compiled a list of items that you may use and change as you see fit. Use as many as you like and if you find other good reasons please add them to your message too!

You could also let US know what other reasons for objection you have given to the Council, and we would also be very grateful to receive a copy of your letter if you are happy with letting us have it. Our contact details can be found via the Contact page.

Here is an example letter:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to object to the building of houses on parts of the main park in Abbotts Barton and the land at Dyson Drive as outlined on your website
http://www.winchester.gov.uk/housing/new-affordable-housing/abbotts-barton/

The reason(s) for my objection is/are
[insert your reason(s) here]

Regards,
[Your name and full address]

You might not like (in no particular order):

• that the councillors have decided to start building on the empty green spaces ('greenfield sites') at Dyson Drive and Charles Close/Chaundler Road better known as THE PARK, instead of investigating further into the available 'brownfield sites' (like the garage areas). The green spaces were recommended for appropriation at the last Housing Delivery Committee meeting of 22 May.
  (The land at Hillier Way is also part of that plan but this group does not object to that site for new houses. Of course you can do that as an individual!)
  If money should run out on this project, we might never see any houses and/or new parking and storage facilities on the garage sites as promised - but we will have lost a big chunk of parkland


• that the plans for appropriation include about a third of the main park which would allow for more buildings at a later time. (We have been told that the row of houses planned along Charles Close would be all that's going to be built - so under no circumstances would we like this area to be extended, which could be done easily once the land has been appropriated.)


• that there are no tree preservation orders on the big (and small) trees in the park. This means they can be removed if councillors decided to build more houses there in the future.


• that the councillors are reducing the amount of play area available for the whole of Winchester and not just Abbotts Barton by building on our parks without really giving anything back that makes up for the loss. Once it is gone, it will be gone forever and Winchester is already low on the amount of space it should provide for sports and play according to its Open Space Strategy. On top of everything else this Strategy is just undergoing a change that sees numbers for land to be held available for sports and play even more reduced - see WCC meeting notes from 26 June).


• that the councillors want to build on the main park and in exchange offer the land around the cadet hut as a new green area. As pointed out before by the Save The Parks Group this is not trading like for like as the park is an ideal area for unstructured and safe play that can easily be overseen, whereas the 'cadet site' is not suitable for activities like this (and was given up in the past once before because anti-social behaviour problems). The latest maps by WCC have shown plans for an extension to the existing fenced in play area, but this is not really needed when you have the big park to play.


• that there are not many play spaces for 'older children' to start with in the north of Winchester, reducing the size of our well overlooked park could contribute to more anti-social behaviour as it drives young people away.


• that it was expressed in a council meeting that the big park is mainly a dog walking area - this is certainly not the case! It is used by many different people for many different purposes (e.g. ball and other games, sun bathing, picnics, sledging, community events, children's birthday parties, animal watching, etc.). A lot of these activities would and could not be done in the land behind the Cadet hut.


• that with no road or other natural border around any new houses on the park, people will have to keep some distance from the new buildings when playing, so this means we will effectively lose a third of the big park if the councillors go ahead with their plans of building houses along Charles Close.


• that the map 'dotting' process at the consultation event was not a proper democratic means of getting an opinion as some people were using a lot more dots than they were supposed to do and nobody was supervising this. On top of that the yellow dots were later interpreted as people showing support for certain sites - but at the event we were told the yellow dots stood for 'not as bad' as the other areas. So really only a dot free area would have been a supported area.
  In addition to that the councillors had the land around the cadet hut included in the consultation map despite later saying in a council meeting that they were not expecting to be able to build there because of the status of the land and the location outside of the estate. This could have been found out before going through the consultation exercise and gave the residents the wrong feeling of having a choice.


• that the councillors are reducing the amount of parkland despite many houses in Abbotts Barton not having adequate gardens. The gardens are small because there was so much parkland available at the time when they were built! Especially at Charles Close some houses have only tiny patio sized gardens and the flats have no gardens at all. The parks were designed as an integral part of the overall original estate's housing scheme to provide sufficient outdoor amenity close by for those 47 dwellings as well as serving valuable play amenity for the rest of the estate which also have smaller than usual gardens.
  We don't know it yet, but any new council houses built might not have a lot of garden space either, so the open spaces will be needed more than ever!


• that the planned houses on the park along Charles Close are in a difficult location to build something that goes with the surroundings. In urban planning terms building on the side of Charles Close can never be an acceptable intervention into the existing street and parkscape scenes - destroying timeless rules of acceptable urban morphology - proposing houses sideways on to the road and park is completely unacceptable.


• that the current plan for Dyson Drive fills up half of the space with houses, leaving the rest as 'play space' - we all know full well that this area will not be used much for playing once there are houses so close nearby, the 'no ball games' signs will surely come soon after. Thinking this through logically, it would actually make more sense to fill this space up with houses and not use any space on the big park instead as that leaves more proper play space altogether.
  (The Save The Parks Group would like this space AND the big park not to be built on at all but again: you can take any view on this as an individual.)


• that that the councillors seem to ignore that the RT. 1/ RT. 2 Status (Important Open Amenity Area / Recreation Area) was bestowed on Dyson Green for a valid reason which has not altered in time and is surely now even more valid with all the new housing going up (e.g. Abbotts Walk and the new development across Worthy Road at the former MOD site) since that original designation.
  (The RT. 1/ RT. 2 status can be seen on the policy maps available via the Local Plan Part 1, adopted by Winchester City Council in March 2013! For your convenience: Policy map key / Northeast Winchester policy map.) On this same map, the whole park area in Abbotts Barton is shown as 'countryside'.


• that the settings and approaches to the city are at stake. The main park forms part of the river Itchen’s green corridor into Winchester when entering by foot from the North on the Kings Way footpath. The river Itchen is a Special Area of Conservation and is on the border of the South Downs National Park.


• that the number of council houses to be built on the park is quite negligible anyway. The councillors should rethink their strategy to find better suited places where they can build more new houses/flats than in Abbotts Barton. Winchester City Council could also possibly re-develop existing buildings (e.g. Avalon House) and find other brownfield areas like the piece of land at Bar End that is currently in use as a council parking area.

There will be a Cabinet meeting coming Wednesday (17 July) and one of the business items are the minutes of the Cabinet (Housing Delivery) Meeting held 22 May (note: at this point we are not sure if this meeting will have any influence on when the appropriation process will start as it seems to focus on other items from the notes). It would be great if you could write to the councillor(s) of your choice before that date - but if you don't manage to do that, please write anyway! It is important that your voice gets heard!

It is also important that as many people as possible hear about the plans, please let all your neighbours and friends know.

Whatever you do and if it's only a short letter/message to one or many councillors, thank you for your efforts!

Fromond Road no longer part of Westman Road project!

An interesting piece of news for our neighbours in Weeke from the Winchester City Council Facebook page:

Westman Road update: Following the consultation event held in June about the proposed development of land at Westman Road in Weeke, the option of improving the open spaces on Fromond Road is no longer being considered as part of this project. Improvements to Fromond Road require much more consultation, design work and significant funding.

Update 11 July:

We are meeting pupils at Henry Beaufort School on today to find out their views regarding the options for improving open spaces in Weeke to compensate for the loss of the open space at Westman Road.

A new article about our parks in the Daily Echo

This article points out that there are brownfield sites available that could be used instead of open land that would be lost forever:

500 sign up to save precious green space at Abbots Barton near Winchester

WCC committee and meeting changes!

Winchester City Council changed some Committee names and responsibilities and therefore meetings. So again a summary of those meetings that might be interesting to us:

When I was double-checking for the 15 July meeting on the (old) Cabinet (Housing Delivery) Committee I found a link to a new page for a newly set up Cabinet (Housing) Committee, explaining this:

At Cabinet on 16 May 2013 it was agreed that the work of the Cabinet (Housing Delivery) Committee be combined with the work of the Housing Committee into one new Cabinet (Housing) Committee with revised terms of reference and membership as set out below.

The next meeting for this new committee will be on Wednesday 18 September, at 10am. The agenda will be made available on 10 September on the meeting page.

The meeting happening on Monday 15 July will now be a Cabinet meeting, starting at 9:30am, and the meeting agenda should become available later TODAY. Here is some info from the Cabinet page:

The Cabinet stands apart from the other committees, and is responsible for all operational decisions which would previously have been taken by service committees.
[...]

The Cabinet is also responsible for taking all decisions on the following;
(i) Leisure, Arts, Heritage and Community matters
(ii) Environmental Health matters
(iii) Transportation matters
(iv) Housing matters
(v) Forward Planning matters

For your information, in addition to the Cabinet meeting there will also be a full Council meeting on Wednesday 17 July at 7pm. The agenda will be available 9 July.