ARCHITECTS, city trustees and green-campaigners have been looking at a variety of infrastructure options as part of the Local Plan Part Two consultation process.

Now in the throes of the plan’s final stages Winchester residents were invited to take part in a forum to discuss air quality and car parking, the location of houses, active travel and social sustainability.

Around 70 people gathered at United Church in Jewry Street to hear presentations from a range of organisations last Tuesday and later joined other tables to share ideas about good and bad aspects from the current proposals.

Head of strategic planning, Steve Opacic, said: “It’s important to say there has been a lot of consultation to get to where we are now. This is where we put the whole thing together and comment on it.”

Speakers included Liz Kessler of City of Winchester Trust, Hazel Agombar of Friends of the Earth, and Tom Belshaw from WACA.

Keith Leaman, City of Winchester Trust, quoted the article A prayer for the Cathedral Cities during his presentation: Preserving the character of the City. “It’s one thing to bring a strategy forward and quite another to implement it,” he said.

Paul Bulkeley, of Snug Architects, said: “We should plan in such a way that change becomes a positive benefit. We need to be clear on a vision of how our city should look. Our city is too small to rely on blanket policies. It would be a shame if nothing changed for the next generation. It is this objective which must remain at the heart of the debate going forward.”

Chairman of the meeting Tony Stoller, the newly appointed WinACC chairman, said he was impressed so many people cared their city and district.

“It was fascinating that people from different organisations and different backgrounds shared such similar views,” he said. “All the four organisations that called the meeting will submit their views to the city council as part of the consultation that ends December 5, reflecting the range of opinions expressed at the meeting.”