YOU know this is a huge scheme when the improvements to the ‘public realm’ are estimated at £5 million.

Winchester City Council is aiming for a £150m-plus redevelopment of the Station Approach area that stretches from the railway station to the Cattle Market on Andover Road.

The council is preparing to apply for a £5m grant from the M3 Local Economic partnership to create a more welcoming area around the train station one where cyclist and pedestrians can feel at home and which acts as a welcoming gateway to visitors.

Ian Charie, head of programme at the city council, told the Cabinet (Station Approach) Committee: “It will be a positive statement about the city for visitors and tourists and the five million people who use the station a year. There will be improved to the hospital, the university and the city centre, a new hub.”

He said the vision was for the area to become a public space with pop-up events and informal music, rather than at present one in which people move through as fast as they can.

The proposed development will see a massive office scheme of 140,00 square feet and housing. The first scheme collapsed in 2016 with councillors saying it was too big.

The committee agreed to pay £225,000 to enable the design work to progress on the Station Hill and Station Road area.

A bid to the LEP is expected by March 2019. It will have to be convinced that the whole £150m scheme is viable.

Councillors expressed some concern at the perceived level of risk. Rose Burns said she was worried that the development of the public realm strategy and the Winchester Movement Strategy may be too slow for the LEP deadline and the £5m grant be lost.

Another concern, raised by Cllr Burns, is the disruption to traffic flow with a possible reintroduction of two-way traffic on Sussex Street happening after work starts on the new public realm and impacting on the proposed two-way bus flow on Station Hill.

Chas Bradfield, strategic director, said the possible risks would be reduced by the council liaising with the LEP and other stakeholders such as Network Rail and the county council.

Mr Charie said the chief estates officer Kevin Warren was talking to between 5-10 firms who are interested in moving into the new offices and end the shortfall of high-quality office space in the city.

  • What do you think of the Station Approach scheme? Write to letters@hampshirechronicle.co.uk