A CONFERENCE on the future of Winchester is being held later this month.

The gathering aims to raise and thrash out issues that affect the city over the coming years and ask the question: what sort of city do people want?

The event Winchester: Thinking Ahead is being hosted by Winchester Business Improvement District, City of Winchester Trust, Winchester University and Winchester Action on Climate Change.

The conference at West Downs Campus, Romsey Road is invitation-only and will be held on Thursday July 21.

It will bring together leading local opinion-formers representing varied Winchester perspectives, informed by contributions by experts, to ask What sort of town do you want? And how do we get there?

The conference will be opened by Cllr Stephen Godfrey, leader of Winchester City Council, and chaired by Martin Willey, former president of the Royal Institute of Town Planning.

Guest speakers include Dr Nicholas Falk, founder of URBED (Urbanism Environment and Design) and joint winner of 2014 Woolfson Economics Prize and George Ferguson, Mayor of Bristol 2012-2016.

The conclusions will help the city council in thinking about what needs to be covered in proposed new planning guidance for future developments in Winchester town centre (a “Supplementary Planning Document”).

The clash of vision is already apparent over the Silver Hill and the Station Approach developments.

Many members of the public argue both schemes are to large for the city.