SIR: Your report (May 6) that Bloor Homes has acquired the South Winchester Golf Club is cause for great concern.

This follows proposals published last year by Landvest to develop 290ha of land between south west Winchester and Hursley as ‘Royaldown Garden Village’.

The City of Winchester Trust considers the landscape setting of Winchester to be one of its most important features. The Trust, as part of its submission to the city council’s recent consultation on the Local Plan Review, stated that it supports any planning policy or designation which increases its protection, such as a Green Belt for the countryside to the south and west of Winchester.

The Partnership for South Hampshire Joint Committee, of which Winchester City Council is a member, resolved at its meeting in December 2018 to support the idea of a South Hampshire Green Belt. The case for a Green Belt was also made by the Campaign to Protect Rural England Hampshire in April 2019, and reiterated in its response to the recent consultation on the Local Plan Review.

The Trust will be looking for strong leadership from the City Council to protect the landscape setting of Winchester and resist any new development to the south and west of the City.

Keith Leaman,

Chairman,

City of Winchester Trust,

Upper Brook Street,

Winchester