The size of the proposed development at Bushfield Camp

The City of Winchester Trust has superimposed the proposed development with a map of the city centre.

It allows people not overly familiar with the former army base near Badger Farm to imagine the scale of the development which proposes a business park, also known as a 'knowledge quarter', 525-room student accommodation, a 100-bedroom hotel, along with shops, restaurants and cafes, plus a 1,055-space multi-storey car park, providing employment for more than 3,000 people.

Diagram of Bushfield Camp plan superimposed on map of Winchester city centre (Image: City of Winchester Trust)

Trust member Richard Baker restates the body's stance on the scheme in the December issue of Trust News. He said: "The Trust has long been concerned about the impact that the form and size of development being proposed will have on the landscape setting of Winchester, the traffic that it will generate in this rural location and the impact that it could have on the local economy in the town centre."

The map shows that the development, if replicated in the city centre, would stretch from the Cathedral Close to Jewry Street and from Minster Lane to the north side of the Brooks Centre. At 17 hectares it is nearly a third the size of the area within the City Walls (58 hectares).

The Chronicle reported (December 21) that more than 820 objections have been received by the city council to the outline application.

Mr Baker states that as an outline application only the issue of access is for decision and that concerns over layout, scale and appearance will be determined by a later, detailed application.