The City Council has just completed a major new study looking at the adequacy, quality and accessibility of the different types of open space and indoor recreation facilities throughout the District.
Parish Councils have been involved in the early stages of the Open Space, Sports and Recreation Study, providing the consultants, Inspace, with information about the facilities in your parish. You will now be able to see how the information has been used by the Consultants within the main Study findings.
A presentation has been arranged for City Councillors, Parish Councillors and Sports Clubs on Tuesday 1st April at 7pm, in the Walton Room of the Guildhall, in Winchester.
It will include an explanation of what information is available as part of the Study, and how it can be accessed and used. The City Council’s Consultants, Inspace, will be present, and parish councils will shortly be receiving an invitation to attend.
Quality open space and recreation facilities that are readily accessible to everyone are an essential part of every local community, and the new recommended standards will be used in the development of the City Council’s Core Strategy that is currently in preparation. This will form the first major document of the City Council’s Local Development Framework.
Council Budget - 2008/09
Winchester City Council has approved its budget for 2008-09 that includes support for the Winchester Action on Climate Change, for parishes to become hubs of services, and for the production of books about the archeology of Winchester.
A new heritage fund is being set up to support new ventures such as the English Language project. The new national bus pass scheme will be fully supported, starting at 9am each day.
Overall savings of £538,000 have been identified and additional income of £563,000 to finance salary increases and the growth items. The council tax increase will be 3.9 percent
Live For The Future - update
The consultation on the Local Development Framework Core strategy Issues and Options paper has now closed.
We received more than 400 responses to the through the online questionnaire on our website. You also sent us about 2,000 paper questionnaires, letters and emails.
These need to be logged and summarised, and we will send acknowledgements as we do this.
Workshops
Seven workshops took place across the district in January and the Strategic Planning team have produced some summaries of the key points made at the public workshops. These give a flavour of the many and varied points raised.
- Bishops Waltham – 8th January
- Whiteley - 10th January
- Denmead - 15th January
- Alresford - 16th January
- Winchester - 17th January
- Littleton - 22nd January
- Wickham - 24th January
New Parish Council Representatives on the Standards Committee
Michael Evans (Whiteley PC) and John Harris (Itchen Valley PC) have been appointed to the City Council’s Standards Committee, to replace Angela Clear (Wickham PC) who was recently elected as a City Councillor.
The reason for appointing an additional Parish representative was due to the likely increase in workload later this year, when the Standards Board passes to district councils the determination of most complaints.
Michael and John join Linda Banister (Olivers Battery PC) and Michael Westwell (Swanmore PC) to make four Parish Representatives overall serving on the Committee.
Winchester Town Access Plan
Winchester City Council is working with Hampshire County Council to develop an access plan for Winchester.
The plan will be aimed at shaping the way we move in and around the town and at making the best use of the highways and public spaces. The results will also inform the Local Development Framework.
We are holding a public exhibition at the Saxon Suite - Winchester Guildhall - where you can drop in on the following dates to find out more:
- Friday 7th March 2008 (1pm to 6pm)
- Saturday 8th March 2008 (10am to 1pm)
You can also complete our online questionnaire
(it's a lot shorter than the LDF one!)
Find out more about the winchester town access plan
1APP - The New Planning Application System 
From 25 February 2008 Winchester City Council introduced a new and improved system for submitting planning applications.
1APP is the Government's standard planning application form which from April 6 will become mandatory across all of England's Local Planning Authorities (LPAs).
In Winchester we introduced the process early to provide people with a transition period and to raise awareness of the important changes.
Find out more about 1APP
More Community Chest Grants Available
Another £10,000 is up for grabs in the Winchester District. The City Council has opened its latest round of Community Chest grants for not-for-profit voluntary organisations, community groups, and registered charities.
You can apply for a one-off grant of up to £500 through the scheme. The closing date for applications is 12th March 2008.
Find out more about community chest grants
Do you have a project our Engineers can help with?
Winchester City Council has an engineering team based in Winchester who can assist Parish and Town Councils in design, supervision and procurement of a range of civil engineering projects.
They are experienced in delivering a large range of civil engineering projects including new footways, car parks, signing schemes, highway and drainage works, and have good knowledge of the required Health and Safety policies and procedures and Construction and Design Regulations which govern such works.
If you would like to discuss any matters you think they could help with please contact our Project Engineer Chris Evans 01962 848 315 or Andy Hickman Head of Access and Infrastructure 01962 848 105.
Spring Perspectives - out now 
The Spring edition of the City Council's magazine, Perspectives, is out now and should be hitting your doorsteps over the next week or so.
It contains articles about the new buss pass scheme, how we're tackling climate change, voting in the next City Council election, and much more.
It also includes a pull-out events guide for the next few months.
Read a pdf version of the magazine (3MB)
Business Opportunities
There are a number of training opportunities and events for business coming up. For more details click on the links below:
- Winchester Business Excellence Awards
(deadline for entries is 3rd March) - South Hampshire Meet the Buyers - 11th March
- Going for Growth seminars - 25th & 26th March and again on 1st & 2nd April
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| Corporate Communications Winchester City Council City Offices Colebrook Street Winchester Hampshire SO23 9LJ Tel: 01962 848 504 Tel: 01962 848 251 communications@winchester.gov.uk |
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