A REVIEW panel made up of stakeholders and councillors has submitted a hard-hitting report against a proposal submitted by a developer for the regeneration of Winklebury.

Winklebury Regeneration Review Panel (WRRP) said in its report that the plans represent what developer Vivid wants, and not what the area needs.

The panel said the aim of the report is to set out detailed arguments on why the plans are wrong and what needs to be done.

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The report said: “In 2018, Winklebury residents, Hampshire County Council (HCC), Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC), the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), residents’ groups, Vivid, the police, local education organisations, and Voluntary Community and Social Enterprises (VCSEs) formed the Winklebury Regeneration Partnership and worked at length to produce plans to regenerate Winklebury.

“For reasons never fully explained, those plans were ditched by the Borough Council later in 2019. They were replaced by the plans, which Vivid’s CEO describes as “unashamedly housing-led”. 

“The one-stop health and wellbeing hub surrounded by open space became a nine-room GP surgery squeezed into a small site. One of the community centres was demolished and the other, still in a poor state of repair and would require substantial investment to meet BDBC’s zero carbon target, was left to limp on.

“The local community saw the revised proposals as unsatisfactory, failing to meet the original, universally agreed ambitions. The new GP surgery cannot provide the range of health and wellbeing services required under NHS and HCC policy. A small 178sqm community facility squeezed into the ground floor of the Winklebury Centre would become the only community facility in Winklebury once the Sycamore Halls are forced to close through old age.”

The panel said it “galling” that community facilities next to open space have been seized all over the borough, including Winklebury.

The WRRP also said the plans submitted by Vivid are in conflict with the National Planning Policy Framework and the objective of delivering sustainable development.

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The report said: “It is also contrary to the promotion of healthy and safe communities. Furthermore, it is contrary to a number of Basingstoke Local Plan 2016 policies.”

Mark Peters, chair of Winklebury and Manydown Community Action Group – one of the stakeholders in the panel – said: “We have always supported regeneration in Winklebury. But we just don’t support this proposal and we are asking Vivid to sit down with us and design a regeneration plan that will work for Winklebury and not just Vivid.”

Cabinet member for homes and regeneration Cllr Samuel Carr said: “As a council, we encourage housing associations to come forward with regeneration schemes to deliver community benefits, improve the quality of affordable homes in our borough, or increase the number of affordable homes available to our residents. 

“Vivid submitted its planning application for Winklebury regeneration in July, and the scheme is currently being assessed against local and national planning guidance and policy. Consideration of community gain is part of this process. 

“As Cabinet member, I welcome the level of engagement from the community about this application. The Winklebury Regeneration Review Panel’s report has been received by the council as local planning authority, and will be considered alongside all the other feedback received as part of the assessment of the application. 

“It would not be appropriate for me to comment on the specific points made within the report, however, given the Winklebury scheme is now a live planning application.”