AT THE eleventh hour common sense prevailed and the Station Approach scheme has been stopped in its tracks.

Three Conservative councillors switched sides to kill off the proposals from Bidder B at the full Council meeting.

The definition of stupidity is making exactly the same mistakes again and again and the city council was getting close to that. The underlying issue with Station Approach, and also with Silver Hill, was the supposed need to cater for the car. More parking than is currently in the area was to be included in the development on the Carfax site. The cost of underground parking necessitated the need to make the offices the monsters that towered over the vicinity.

Reduce the parking requirement and immediately the pressure that created this bad scheme eases.

Also, the need for parking has been reduced because South West Trains is set to build a deck on its car park on the western side of the station off Stockbridge Road. Park and ride will be part of the Barton Farm development just a mile up the road.

The hope now is that the city council will come back with a better scheme that everyone can, with a bit of compromise, support.

The danger is that the suspicion, distrust, and divisions that Silver Hill started and Station Approach stirred up will make such progress impossible.