Broadway blueprint

The town forum meeting was billed as an opportunity to have a say on the Broadway-Friarsgate scheme. But many of the questions from residents were left unanswered-including the matter of the height of the main building block which critics fear could "swamp" the city and change its character.

Architect, Paul Appleton, of Allies and Morrison, outlined the scheme, which proposes 40 shops arranged in new streets based on the medieval street pattern that was lost under modern development.

Under the development agreement, Thornfield Properties is also to build two new GP surgeries, a new bus station, a multi-storey car park and 360 new homes-35% of which will be affordable.

The meeting was the launch of public consultation that will end in a planning application later this year. However, no details were given on proposed uses of nine new building blocks presented in a sketch scheme.

This information was later obtained by the Chronicle after a request to the city council's chief estates officer, Tony Langridge.

It is proposed that the main building, which takes up the whole block between Middle Brook Street and Tanner Street, would have shops on the ground floor, the largest of which will be occupied by Sainsbury's, a public car park over the next two floors, doctors' surgeries on the two floors above and then two floors of flats, with roof gardens and possibly a penthouse.

After the meeting, Winchester architect, David Ashe, president of Royal Institute of British Architects in the South, said: "Is it five, six or seven storeys? The effect on views into the city from St Catherine's Hill, St Giles Hill and Oram's Arbour is important.

"At the moment, the cathedral sits among other buildings like a whale among minnows. The environmental impact of this scheme needs to be demonstrated at the earliest stage."

Mr Ashe is urging the city council to approve a masterplan before the architects submit a planning application and it is too late to stop the "juggernaut" of development.

He said: "They were showing just what they wanted to show us and not what they felt was controversial. This does not bode well for the public consultation process. The council says it is committed to it-but I do wonder. The public of Winchester are not idiots."

Another architect, Bill Halliwell, said: "The volume of the building is fundamental. It could end up swamping the rest of the city and we need to have that concern addressed."

A third architect, Robert Adam, said: "My hope is that this scheme will be traditional, something that works today, has a direct relationship to the past and wishes to pass that to the future."

Several architects spoke out in support of the scheme, including Michael Morris, a former county council employee, who measured the cathedral for Roger Brown's model of the city.

He said: "The height of the tower is 140ft. The roof parapet is 85ft. I have studied the townscape of Winchester for many years. I can see nothing in this proposal that begins to threaten the dominance of the cathedral as it stands."

Ray Attfield also struck a positive note. He said: "It could be one of the most wonderful schemes that has ever happened to Winchester."

Kate McIntosh said the architects should be "championed" by the city council.

Dan Lloyd, from Oliver's Battery, said: "What assurance will we have that the shops and facilities provided are those we need? I have grown up here and there is nothing for people aged 13 to 17 to do."

His plea was echoed by Katy Hughes, a mother-of-two from Highcliffe. She said: "We need to keep young people coming into the city. I can't find inspiration as a family person in what is presented here."

City councillors were not allowed to speak at the town forum meeting but county councillor, Pamela Peskett, said: "I would like to see more facilities for young people. What about a bowling alley?"

Keith Story, of Edgar Road, said the council's record for major developments was "appalling" as it was responsible for The Brooks Centre in the 1980s.

He asked: "Could the residents have the right of veto over the final design? I am afraid that we might again have a scheme imposed on us that we don't want."

Mr Story said the homes, half of which would have parking spaces, would create an extra half a million extra car movements a year in an area of Winchester already designated an air-quality management zone because of pollution. "That will wipe out all the gains from all new park-and-ride schemes," he said.

Barbara Cooper voiced concerns about the proposed demolition of the Kings Walk antiques centre. Mike Coppoci, of Thornfield Properties, said he proposed to relocate it to the new Lawn Street, possibly even reconstructing the 19th-century original.

The developer said the council could influence the mix of shops as it had to give permission before units were let. He said the rents would be "affordable" and there would be a net gain of 15 shops after existing premises were demolished.

Mr Coppoci said: "We are actually looking for things that Winchester requires. I want to create something that people will want to go to. So there will be shops, cafs and bars-you could have a Christmas ice rink in the Broadway.

"I want to create something that is truly beautiful for Winchester and something we can all be proud of."

Pat Edwards, chairman of the City of Winchester Trust, asked where the market would go under the new scheme. The answer was possibly Silver Hill Square or The Broadway if it were made more pedestrian-friendly.

Chairman, Richard Coleman, former secretary of the Fine Arts Commission, summed up: "There is a genuine concern about change in a very important and sensitive place but also a wish to see the site change for the better, for it to be be relevant to Winchester and beautiful and not unduly directed by commerce."

Key to diagram

A: The main block. Retail units on ground floor, including Sainsburys. Also ground-floor reception areas for relocated St Clement's and Friarsgate surgeries on the third and fourth floors; 280-space public car park floors one and two; residential units on fifth and sixth with possibly a penthouse on top.

B: Retail and parking on ground floor. Residential units floors one to four.

C: Retail and parking on ground floor, residential units floors one to four.

D: Parking ground floor, residential floors one to two

E: Retail ground floor, residential floors one to two

F: Retail ground floor, residential floors one to three.

G: Retail-mainly food and drink-on ground floor, residential floors one to three.

H: Woolstaplers Hall. Retail-mainly food and drink-ground floor with residential one to three.

J: Ground floor relocated Buffalo Club-a social club currently located behind the Blue Dolphin; parking and residential on ground floor. Floors one to three residential.