Issue - meetings

RECOMMENDATION:

It is recommended that Scrutiny Committee comment on the proposals within the attached cabinet report, ref CAB3570 which is to be considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 25 August 2026.

NOTE. This report contains an exempt appendix (Appendix B), if members wish to discuss any part of this exempt appendix, then the procedure under agenda item 7a (below) applies.

The Chairperson invited the members of the public and visiting councillors to address the committee, a summary of their comments were as follows.

1. Ian Tait addressed the committee. He raised concerns regarding the lack of affordable housing on the site and the deteriorating commercial viability of the scheme. He questioned the definition of "Winchesterness" and expressed doubts about meeting the planning longstop dates and suggested that the council should consider aborting the development agreement and selling the site outright.

2. Councillor Stephen Godfrey addressed the committee. He challenged the assertion that there were no other options worth considering and highlighted that the business case ignored £25 million in sunk costs and a £650,000 annual loss in rental income. He raised concerns about the scheme's marginal viability, its vulnerability to construction cost increases, and the lack of affordable housing, use of CIL, a hotel, and community space, passages that lead nowhere, no new jobs.  He urged the committee to ensure the whole district benefited from the investment.

3. Councillor Danny Lee addressed the committee. He asked what sensitivity tests had been undertaken to recover some affordable housing and questioned the council's total financial exposure, including St Clements Surgery and proposed car park acquisitions. He also sought clarification on the benefit to cost ratio, including the assumption of a 5% footfall increase despite the loss of the hotel, and asked when energy and climate resilience commitments would become measurable specifications.  He raised implications around the very recent National Planning Policy Framework (17.08.26).

Councillor Martin Tod, Leader and Cabinet Member for Asset Management, introduced the report, ref CAB3570, which included the following points:

1.    Cabinet would be asked to approve the submission of the planning application as outlined in Appendix D. A separate decision, outside of the business case, concerned the lease and access of the Marks & Spencer car park to enable necessary bus infrastructure.

2.    The project had experienced a lengthy progression dating back to the 1990s, including a previous scheme between 2005 and 2016 that had focused on financial returns and was discontinued due to lack of public and member support.

3.    The Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) made deliberate policy choices prioritising community and resident needs over profit maximization; and that internal viability assessments in 2018 had established that recovering land assembly costs alongside delivering affordable housing was not feasible under those constraints.

4.    The council had set ambitious environmental standards exceeding national requirements and had made commitments, such as opening up waterways which carried financial implications.

5.    Unforeseen global and national economic pressures, including conflicts affecting fuel and energy prices, had caused construction inflation to outpace development values fivefold since 2021.

6.    Winchester faced greater difficulty accessing central government funding compared to past assumptions but whilst development projects across the country were being delayed or halted, Winchester was notable in continuing to progress its scheme.

7.    The financial position was not final, and the council continued to explore avenues to improve viability, including potential government grants for regeneration and social housing.

8.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7