IT is the decision that has split opinion and according to some will either wreck or renew a historic Hampshire city.

Winchester's Silver Hill scheme, a £165 million redevelopment of shops and homes, is due to be decided today.

Planning chiefs meet today to consider controversial changes to the city centre project, which has seen a string of protests, petitions and legal challenges over almost two decades.

Campaigners say the development will ruin Winchester's unique heritage, while civic and business leaders say regeneration will create jobs and attract shoppers.

The latest controversy in a debate dating back to the 1990s is around developer Henderson, which proposes dropping affordable housing and a bus station from a scheme originally given planning permission in 2009.

A special planning committee, going ahead despite the city council facing a High Court challenge, will hear from councillors and campaigners on both sides.

Cllr Kim Gottlieb is taking his own Tory administration to judicial review over their decision to allow Henderson to propose the contentious changes.

Daily Echo: Kim Gottlieb by Kings Walk, set for demolition

Cllr Kim Gottlieb

City officers will present applications to amend the scheme and take questions from the 14-strong committee before a public speaking session.

Martin Perry, Henderson's director of development, said Silver Hill will deliver “desperately needed” jobs, shops and homes.

“Crucially, it is also a scheme that is commercially viable and can be delivered,” he added.

Chris Turner, executive director of Winchester Business Improvement District, which represents more than 800 firms in the city, said: “Winchester faces stiff competition from the likes of Southampton and Basingstoke and if we are not prepared to back a major investment in our city centre people will only continue to look elsewhere.”

Cllr Gottlieb, who led a march of more than a thousand angry residents against the council's approach to development a fortnight ago, has held a series of 'conversation days' encouraging residents to devise “creative, beautiful” alternatives for the area.

Daily Echo:

An image of Cllr Gottlieb's alternative Silver Hill proposals

Preservation group the City of Winchester Trust, which supports the scheme despite concerns about affordable housing and excess retail space, said Cllr Gottlieb was “peddling unrealistic dreams”.

In a statement, it said: “We do not consider these reservations to be grounds for a trust planning objection to the development as a whole.

“On balance we consider the scheme well designed, appropriate for its location and ... good for Winchester.”

  • What now?

HENDERSON had hoped to start work on Silver Hill this winter if plans were approved, with the first shops opening in mid-2017 and final homes complete by summer 2018.

Preliminary work, including exploratory boreholes, began on site earlier this year.

Daily Echo:

Henderson's Martin Perry

But even if planners approve the scheme today, the diggers will be held back until the result of a judicial review which is set to be heard in London's High Court next month.

A city council spokesman confirmed the scheme will lie in wait until the judge's ruling.

The hearing will take place on January 28 and 29.

Cllr Gottlieb last month revealed to the Daily Echo that he is considering another offensive against what he called an “improper planning application process”.

Work must begin before March 2016 under the terms of a compulsory purchase order made by the council to buy the land.