A GROUNDBREAKING exercise to help shape the future of Winchester is nearing its end.

One Great Win project gathered views from people on how the city should evolve over the next ten years.

Unlike many similar exercises this one was not so much about what people wanted to see - an ice rink, opera house, more car parks - but finding a better way for how the city should evolve.

It will help guide the city council over the next ten years and is the first such exercise for 15 years.

The Winchester Vision 2030 was launched at an online event, open to all, on Tuesday evening.

The One Great Win project has been delivered by a creative place making team assembled by Boyle + Summers.

Richard Summers told the town forum last Tuesday: “The key question was ‘what does Winchester want?’ We believe we have answered that question.”

People want to see a city on a human scale, a place that is walkable, a ‘15-minute city’ where everything that people need - shops, community, schools, medical services, friends, is that time away, on foot.

It is a city where people feel what they say and believe counts, a place where there could be not ‘one great win’ but 100 small wins. Jenny Savage, of Feria Urbanism, said: “Residents could suggest where the new housing should go. A reverse ‘call for sites’”, where developers put forward suggestions.

Richard Eastham, also of Feria Urbanism, said: “This vision is about how to do things rather than what to do. It’s a manual about making change rather than a glossy brochure about the future.”

Councillors on the town forum, comprising Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, who commissioned the £75,000 project, welcomed the results.

Council leader Lucille Thompson said: “The council needs to let go and enable the community to get on with these ‘wins’. As a council we cannot manage everything and we wouldn’t want to do everything. We don’t want to push people into things the community does not want. The way forward is to work collaboratively with all sections of the community.”

Cllr Martin Tod, Lib Dem, liked the organic human-scale approach. “It is how the city has developed. There has only been one successful project in Winchester that has stood the test of time and that is the cathedral; arguably King Alfred did a good job with the street plan but everything else has been organic and takes time to develop.”

Cllr Jamies Scott, Conservative, said: “It is an exciting way of thinking about the future. There is a big love for Winchester, a lot people love this place.”

Around 50 people have been spoken to at length to get a broad cross-section of views, including the following: Liz Alcock, John Arthur, Emma Back, Edna Boden, Peter Brown, Silas Brown, Mike Caldwell, Colin Campbell, Betty Chadwick, Sue Coles, Jo Crocker, Peter Critoph, David Doyle, Tim Fell, Emma Findley, Mike Fisher, Phil Gagg, Mark Goodlet, Jool Heller Dixon, Chris Holloway, Victoria Hurley, Jolyon Nott, Laxmi Lama, Penny Lawrence, Dan Lloyd, Tom Lowe, Katerina Kremmida, Lesley McKinnon, Susan Millin, Brian Pitts, Hannah Portrays Ward, Bo Priestly, Elaine Ralph, Yannis Roussos, Paul Spencer, Rich Turner, Jeremy Tyrell, Jack Vear, Surya Vishnu, Steve Willoughby, Martin Wilson, Wendy Wyatt and Sorcha Young.

Boyle + Summers were commissioned to start in March but because of the lockdown almost all the consultation has been online through social media.

The exercise has been criticised. Patrick Davies, a member of the City of Winchester Trust and a former city councillor, told the town forum in June: “I’m far from convinced that this is an appropriate expenditure of £75,000 of council tax payers’ money. It is a very gimmicky website. They want a gallery of selfies documenting the city during isolation. It doesn’t seem an appropriate way of driving this Winchester vision, or a way of doing sensible planning.”