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

From the Save The Parks website:

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!

New Roundup

Hello, just a quick heads-up this week as I won't be able to write anything next week during half-term.

Everybody is very worried about the level of flooding going on and some of our community are directly affected by arrangements that St Bede's school had to make and also by the temporary closure of the Leisure Centre. The military has helped with putting sandbags and barriers into place. Some fields north of Winchester, in Easton, have been flooded last night to alleviate the pressure on Winchester (ITV news report). Let's hope this is enough to stop the flooding of Winchester city centre, especially as some more bad weather is expected. According to one article I found the high water levels could last for a long time. WinAcc has posted an article about how the flooding relates to climate change.

If you are interested to see more news reports and articles about the local flooding, please head over to our public Facebook group page. I'm collating information there as I find it over the day.

Please be aware that the flooded areas pose several health risks to everybody and also pets!

If you are heading out by car, it's a good idea to check on Hantsweb whether the roads you are going to use are actually open.

Locally please keep in mind that Worthy Road will be closed for two hours on Sunday 23 February for the 10km run.

I haven't really heard much about the decision taken at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday regarding the Leisure Centre plans. Has anybody been there and knows more?

Have you had an NHS letter about your confidential information held at your GP? I would advise to read up on what the NHS actually wants to do with your data (use Google to find more info if you like), and to make an informed decision whether you want to opt out or not (possible until March). Medconfidential.org is a site helping with opting out.

Here is another consultation, this time from the government on libraries.

The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust have posted their February monthly Round Robin.

And that's really it this week! Stay dry and safe!

News Roundup

Back again to stormy weather and also local flooding. Here are a few photos taken by some of our readers:

Flooded Winnall Moors (by Sarah)

Flooded River Park (by Lynne)

Please keep safe: Renewed flood alerts in Winchester today (from yesterday).

Also please bear in mind this warning from the Environment Agency: "Stay away from flood water. Six inches of fast flowing water can knock you off your feet."


By the way, today is Councillor's Surgery day for our ward. None of our little group can make it this time - but maybe you would like to go?

Council activities

Important survey about the City Council elections frequency: vote in 'thirds' or change to 'all out' system, what's your preference? This only takes a couple of minutes (mainly to read the information of pros and cons provided). I would really urge you to look at this and to vote as this change would have a major effect on how the Council works.

A two week old article about the Coucillor's who moved parties: Two Winchester Tories defect to Lib Dems.

Some information regarding the change from Section 106 to CIL payments.

Winchester residents will be be kept informed on new developments. Informed that is, not involved.

Winchester neighbourhoods will have 20 miles per hour speed limits enforced: "Cllr Victoria Weston, Portfolio Holder for Built Environment, rubber stamped the project at the end of January and the limits are expected to be in place by the spring."

Leisure Centre and River Park

Why am I not surprised by this? Winchester council boss claims political motive over leisure centre campaign.

Press release by the council (3 Feb): Next steps on River Park Leisure Centre.

Other local news

Hampshire Police HQ could move out of Winchester.

Environment

Fracking under your house whether you like it or not: Government considering law change.

WinACC's Transport Vision for a Winchester that's better for walkers and cyclists.

WinACC invites your views on their overall priorities in their formal draft annual plan.

Green supporters call for more community gardening in Winchester.

He might have a point (if it ever stops raining again): Solar panels better than a pension, says minister.

Anybody using mainly LED lights these days? Some information from WinACC.

(And, no, I'm not a member of WinACC, I just tend to find their initiatives interesting and important!)

Things to do

9 Feburary in Southampton: Seed swap aims to save less popular fruit and veg from extinction.

A POP-UP exhibition, In Search of Alfred the Great, has opened in Saint Bartholomew’s Church in Winchester.

Winchester Film Festival has announced its programme for 2014.