On the day I read that plans for the old leisure centre are to be updated in September (Chronicle, August 1), the whole of the bottom of town floods in a flash storm in mid-summer.

There are numerous photos on the Chronicle website (and on pages xx-xx, Letters Ed). I can’t begin to calculate the financial loss: numerous small, independent and charity shops damaged, bus station out of action, rail services totally disrupted (I know, I was on a full train from Waterloo that couldn’t get beyond Woking), people’s homes including even Cranworth Road… and that’s before considering the psychological and emotional harm to those involved - assuming there was no actual physical harm. Not to mention, in the photos, Tesco at Winnall (on high ground, you’d think) and Wetherspoons - also fairly high, and a historic building.

Now Winchester City Council, almost three years since it decided to dispose of the old leisure centre site to the University of Southampton, is presumably planning to pull another rabbit out of the hat.

Friends of River Park know, from Freedom of Information requests, that it was in fact the Council that invited the University to take the site.  The University did not initiate the discussion.  Many people online say they must be waiting for the University to demolish the redundant and unsightly building, but in fact the terms of the agreement with the University - assuming it was ever signed - say the Council will be responsible for the demolition.

The land on which the old leisure centre was built was known to be a flood risk.  It’s surrounded by water.  That’s why it has barely any foundations, and the pool was built above ground.  And that was before there was any serious understanding of climate change - which is what Winchester is experiencing.

The cost of demolition must be less than the ongoing costs of flood damage. 

The area needs to return to the water meadow it once was.  When it was passed to the then Mayor and Corporation in 1902 it was not to be built on.  The acres of tarmac could instead be reedbeds designed to prevent future flooding.  There is room for a low-impact lido, ideally fed by the Itchen (and the water cleaned), but no other building.

Will this be the update we get in September?  Is anyone holding their breath?

Judith Martin,

Romsey Road,

Winchester

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