Community influence increased as Eco-town meetings held in public

Residents will be more involved in Whitehill Bordon’s Eco-town because decisions will now be made in public.

The greater transparency will see the Whitehill Bordon Opportunity Executive Group replaced with a new ‘delivery board’ which will have an independent chairman.

These improvements will make the meetings more open and democratically accountable.

There will also be changes to the groups which report to the new delivery board so that there is more opportunity for the community to influence the project.  

The delivery board will have the following members: an independent chairman, the project director, a Whitehill town councillor, a district councillor, a county councillor, a representative from the Ministry of Defence (Defence Estates), a representative from the Homes and Communities Agency and one community representative (eg from Whitehill Town Partnership).

There will also be technical advice from Natural England and Seeda as well as consultants and officers.

The composition of the delivery board is considered fair and practical as there will be one representative from each partner organisation working together to benefit the community.

The delivery board will meet quarterly.

The Policy Advisory Groups (PAGs) will be replaced with ‘sub-groups’ – and all members of the PAGs can join these. Residents and councillors, from the town and surrounding villages, will be encouraged to join the new sub-groups.

The sub-group meetings will also be held in public and will include local representatives. They will also undertake more technical aspects of work and will make recommendations to the delivery group.

There will be five sub-groups covering the following topics: housing, community facilities, transport & infrastructure, sustainable environment and economic development.

The chairman of each of the sub-groups will be a member of the delivery board.

A land ownership group will continue to meet and will also feed into the delivery board.

Residents will also have an opportunity to give their comments and ideas to the delivery board ahead of the quarterly meeting via a ‘standing conference’ that will be held before the main decision-making meetings.

The new structure gives more opportunity for openness, public inclusion and accountability and will help the public engage with the project – as well as giving residents a chance to have more input into their town’s future than they have had in the past.

These new structures remove the need for the old management group meetings that weren’t held in public and didn’t involve the community as much.

Cllr Andrew Joy, Portfolio Holder for Whitehill Bordon and Alton , said: “The community’s input is key to this project.

“That’s why we will make decisions in public and there will be greater opportunity for residents to influence the project and tell us what they think.

“We want as many residents as possible to participate at every stage of the decision-making process.

“The standing conference is a constructive way to ensure that as many councillors and residents are contributing to this project as possible and it gives them a regular opportunity to comment on proposals.

“This structure is far more transparent than the old system and I think it will be more efficient and effective at getting things done.”

The new arrangements should be in place by September.