OPEN LETTER TO WINCHESTER CITY COUNCIL

Open space, greenery, nature and wildlife are of vital importance to human health and happiness. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown this into sharp relief. During the UK lockdowns, parks, recreation grounds, nature reserves and other green areas provided some respite from confinement. Since then, open spaces have offered the principal means of spending time with family and friends while maintaining “social distance”. Yet, the post-COVID recovery could threaten these very spaces, with the government’s emphasis on “build build build”[1] yielding new housing targets and planning laws[2] that will make development far easier.

The city of Winchester is surrounded by beautiful countryside, some of it protected through designation as national park or nature reserve or “site of special scientific interest”. Within the city’s settlement boundary, however, the publicly accessible open spaces are fairly small and only a few have limited forms of protection. Several sites listed in the 2016 Local Plan Open Space Strategy have since been developed (e.g. The Valley), as have some areas designated as “locally listed historic parks and gardens” (e.g. Pitt Manor).

The city’s main public sports pitches and recreation grounds sit just outside the settlement boundary. They have remained relatively unthreatened while designated as “countryside”. However, only two sets of playing fields, King George V in Highcliffe and the neighbouring Garrison Ground, are legally protected with Fields In Trust. Community mobilisation has been essential to the process of getting these areas properly protected.

Similar efforts to protect other key areas of recreational open space in and around the city should be considered NOW, in light of the proposed new planning laws. Sites within or just outside the current settlement boundary are particularly vulnerable to development pressure. In addition to long-term protection, some sites could be enhanced through biodiversity management, whereas others would benefit from new recreational facilities or other measures to support public access and use.

[1] 10 Downing Street (2020) ‘Build build build’: Prime Minister announces New Deal for Britain press release, 30 June 2020, link

[2] Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (2020) Planning for the future consultation, 6 August 2020, link

In 2018, Winchester SALT set up a local network for those involved in community sport in the Winchester area called the Winchester Community Sport Alliance (WCSA). This aimed to help the community sport sector to engage in the development of new or improved sport and recreational facilities in Winchester, to share information and resources, and to get involved in local events.

In 2024, the WCSA spun out as a new club-led organisation, Sport Winchester. Community clubs based in and around the city of Winchester can find out more or join Sport Winchester by visiting their website here.

PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP TO THE WCSA VIA THIS WEBSITE AS WINCHESTER SALT NO LONGER RUNS THIS NETWORK OR THE ASSOCIATED NEWSLETTER.

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This campaign was successful!

Further to the Open Letter and discussions with Tesco PLC, the company agreed to sell the Garrison Ground to Winchester City Council in December 2016. The council then committed to safeguard it for sport and leisure use, and has developed an 'urban design framework' that incorporates the Garrison Ground into a Winchester Sport and Leisure Park with sports pitches and play areas alongside new indoor facilities. 

We have fed into the consultation process for the park, and encouraged Winchester City Council to protect all remaining playing fields at Bar End with Fields In Trust. THEY HAVE NOW AGREED TO DO SO! (as of early 2020)

Thank you to all who supported these efforts!

FAO: John Allan, Non-executive Chairman, and Dave Lewis, Group Chief Executive, Tesco PLC

The London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics inspired our community. We saw the power of sport – to bring people together, keep them healthy and active, reaching for their goals. 

Winchester is one of the most active areas of the UK. But our public sports facilities are really limited. We need facilities that offer everyone a chance to take part in sport, whether for fun, fitness, training or competition.

So we set ourselves 2012 hours to make a difference, to secure the future of sport in Winchester – and build our Olympic legacy! Between midnight on 27th July 2014 – the two-year anniversary of the London 2012 opening ceremony – and 8pm on 19th October 2014, we aimed to raise awareness of the issues as well as a significant community contribution to the funds needed to build Winchester's new sports facilities. 

The goal was to ensure the right facilities are built in the right place, and in the right way – involving our community.

Our research indicated that these indoor facilities would meet the needs of our area, now and in the future:

• A 50m community pool that can be divided into different sections and varied in depth – swimming is by far the most popular activity here! WE HAVE SECURED THIS FACILITY, WHICH IS NOW PART OF THE WINCHESTER SPORT AND LEISURE PARK AT BAR END
• A gymnastics and trampolining facility – hundreds of local children enjoy these sports AND NOW TREASURE GYMNASTICS HAS CREATED A WINCHESTER GYMNASTICS CENTRE IN WINNALL
• A large sportshall – we're desperately short of indoor courts for netball, basketball and other sports ALTHOUGH THE NEW COURTS AT THE WINCHESTER SPORT AND LEISURE PARK AND AT WINCHESTER COLLEGE ARE BETTER THAN THOSE THEY REPLACED
• An indoor athletics training area and spectator seating for our athletics track WHICH IS STILL PENDING

The 2012 hours website itself has now been archived, but if you'd like to take a look you can find it at http://2012hours.weebly.com. 

Annual Accounts 2014/15