Councillor Threlfall attended a meeting at Winchester Guildhall on 6 June and reported that the ambition of the Winchester City Council Estates Department remains to get the viaduct listed in order to attract some public funding. To this end a firm called "Landscape Perspectives" is about to be employed as a consultant on the matter of obtaining status. The structure has been placed upon the Register of Threatened Historic Buildings, and a new fund-raising initiative will be launched early next month in the form of the "Friends of Hockley Viaduct".
Meanwhile, some work is being done to remove vegetation from the upper parts of the viaduct and to unblock the drains that serve the structure’s deck, thus preventing further water damage. It is intended that the Itchen Navigation between St Catherine’s Lock and the viaduct will be tidied up and the parts of bridge that are presently in the river will be salvaged.
City Councillor Mrs. M Campbell-White reported that Hockley Viaduct may become a public amenity providing a walkway and viewing area.
last updated 2 July 2000 by Adrian Walmsley