The last Winchester Local Plan conducted a full appraisal of the landscape sensitivity of the sites that had been put forward for development.
We have marked the currently proposed development sites on the map from that report. Barn Meadow is outlined in red, the other current sites in blue. It is clear that the landscape professionals from Winchester City Council assessed Barn Meadow as the only one of those sites in the “Most Sensitive” landscape category.
Here is their summary of Barn Meadow’s landscape:
and their professional assessment of its merits:
Together with a summary of the meadow’s place within the context of the key issues facing the town:
Winchester City Council’s most recent Landscape Assessment of Barn Meadow by its Natural Environment & Recreation Team referred to the meadow’s “strong scenic qualities” and reported that:
“the site appears as open floodplain. This ‘River Valley Landscape Type’ … is considered to have significant landscape and nature conservation value and is associated with a tranquil pastoral quality which is extremely sensitive to disturbance and vulnerable to even slight changes.”
The report concludes that the site is of “High Overall Landscape Sensitivity”, consistently scoring “High” ratings for all the three categories – Landscape Character Sensitivity, Visual Sensitivity and Value. Those scores combine to give the overall landscape assessment a ‘High Sensitivity’ rating.
That High Sensitivity score brings with it a recommendation that “protection from development is the preferred option“.
Despite this, when we first presented our proposal for Barn Meadow to be designated Local Green Space – see here – a member of NATC’s Neighbourhood Plan Committee responded with hostility, telling us that “nobody except you is interested in the views down Drove Lane”.
It is not the place for the neighbourhood plan steering group to offer their personal opinions. It should instead consider those of the community; and you have made it very clear how much you cherish this landscape.
Regrettably, it came as no surprise to us that the landscape of Barn Meadow was continually overlooked for inclusion in the earlier work of the Neighbourhood Plan. This “Most Sensitive” landscape only made it onto the committee’s Key Views list three years into the plan process – after your response to the Winter 2024 Community Consultation made it impossible for them to continue to ignore it.
