Winchester green councillor criticises progress on movement strategy

Cllr Malcolm Wallace, Green councillor for Central Meon Valley, criticised how long the plan was taking to implement at a meeting of the Health and Environment Policy Committee.

He made his statement following an update on the Winchester Movement Strategy and Transport Action given by officers for both Winchester City Council and Hampshire County Council.

L-R: Cllr Wallace, Cllr Learney (Image: Newsquest)He said: “We are four years into the 10-year Winchester Movement Strategy Plan. Progress has been extremely poor. Whilst the officers have done a good job of highlighting the small steps that have been made, our residents deserve better than any pretence that the plans are on track.”

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Cllr Wallace highlighted that there have been delays to the draft local transport plan as well as the local cycling and infrastructure plan and spending on new cycle parking. He also pointed to the Department for Transport's cancellation of the Mini-Holland scheme, with funding for this initiative “disappearing”.

He continued: “Whilst many of these issues are outside of Winchester council's direct control, this council shouldn't be part of perpetuating the myth that there is an effective plan being worked. It's time to be honest, step back and reevaluate where we go from here.

“To quote the Winchester Movement Strategy, overall the evidence provided a strong mandate to be bold. Don't just tinker around the edges but seize the opportunity for real change. Currently, the next steps in this report appear to be limited to tinker around the edges and are unlikely to have any effect on the amount of transport in Winchester.”

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Cllr Kelsie Learney, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency, responded to Cllr Wallace's criticisms, saying: “I absolutely agree with (your) sentiments, but I think we have to recognise that transport schemes are astonishingly expensive.

“I think we have to recognise that we have to work within the resources we have and do the best with what we have, but it would be great to be putting ambitious schemes together but that would take even more resources than we’re already putting into this. As we know, we as a council are going to have to look quite hard at the levels of resources that are available going forward. So, I absolutely agree with the sentiment but I think there is a practicality problem here.

“The ambitious part would be if we could get the money to do the whole lot and that's when we can really motor on.”