Revised masterplan will go through rigorous approval process

A revised masterplan for Whitehill & Bordon has been prepared to take on board extensive community consultation and is going through a rigorous approval process.

Once it has been approved the masterplan will provide a framework guide to how the town will be regenerated to get the facilities and infrastructure that it so desperately needs while protecting and enhancing the environment. It protects the town from piecemeal development.

Changes to the masterplan have been informed by 10 technical studies that have tested the proposals – as well as widespread consultation which ran from October to December last year and involved 10 workshops and numerous drop-in events.

The masterplan sets out where the town centre, facilities, homes and employment areas will go.

In addition it also shows a safeguarded location for a possible rail station on the edge of Hogmoor Inclosure and a public transport hub in the centre of the town.

It also proposes two locations where a new sports hub could go. This could be at either Budds Lane or Mill Chase Road.

The sports hub will include a new six lane swimming pool (with a learner pool as well), a sports hall, up to 100 gym stations (which may be split across a range of local sites), an outdoor synthetic turf pitch, four tennis courts, four squash courts, two outdoor bowls rinks and around seven hectares of sports pitches/outdoor courts.

The masterplan seeks to retain and enhance the existingChaseCommunityHospital– as well as providing a new primary care centre.

And buffer zones have been introduced to ensure that no development can take place within 400 metres of European protected green spaces.

Changes to the revised version include:

• A reduction from 5,300 to 4,000 homes (with homes being built to the highest environmental standards that are available at the time)
• No housing onVikingPark
• A site for a new learning campus (which could provide education for 11-19-year-olds and other learning facilities for wider groups)
• Reduced housing density at Bordon and Oakhanger Sports Club (BOSC)
• A new water feature (Oxney Stream integrated within the new residential areas as a natural landscape feature)
• Additional protection for green spaces (This means including other parks and open spaces within the town in the potential Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace network offering a connected network of green spaces across the town. This would ensure their long term maintenance and management.)
• A new public space opposite the High Street and Chalet Hill junction
• A new town park within easy reach of the new town centre
• Smaller energy centres rather than one energy centre to power the town
• Traffic management along the A325
• Two routes for the inner relief road have been proposed (these are throughVikingParkand using the southern part of the disused rail corridor)
•  Allotments near to the area where new homes will be built – rather than on Hogmoor Inclosure
•  Because of the reduced housing numbers the education provision has been reassessed and now two new primary schools are proposed – rather than three

The revised masterplan (in draft format) will be taken to East Hampshire District Council’s Development Policy Panel and Whitehill Town Council to take on board their comments. The masterplan will also be considered at a meeting of the five specialist groups (which are groups of residents and other interested parties that want to help guide the regeneration of the town).

It will be then be discussed at EHDC’s Full council meeting on 9^th May and if it is approved it will be adopted as a guide to how the town will be regenerated.

As well as this the Eco-town’s Standing Conference (which is a forum made up of local councillors and representatives from the community) and the Delivery Board have been consulted on the changes.

The next major consultation will take place when a planning application is prepared for the whole site – this is expected to be next year.

There will also be consultation on individual sites for example Quebec Barracks.

Cllr Adam Carew, the Mayor of Whitehill, said: “With the Army leaving us by 2015 development is inevitable. Over the next 30 years Whitehill & Bordon will become the largest town in East Hampshire. The masterplan will prevent piecemeal development, prevent houses without facilities and prevent planning chaos.

“We in Whitehill & Bordon have been crying out for better facilities for years but we also value our wonderful countryside.

“I strongly support our community’s green vision for regeneration for our town to build to the greenest, highest standards to get the jobs, larger houses, transport and facilities that we so desperately need – while protecting our green spaces.

“This is our town, our future and we have worked long and hard to agree very significant changes to the masterplan.

“I am delighted they have now been incorporated.

“The result is a much stronger, more tailor-made document that will provide a robust blueprint for an exciting programme of regeneration for a more complete and more confident Whitehill & Bordon fit for the 21^st Century.”

Cllr Glynis Watts, the Deputy Leader of EHDC and the portfolio holder for regeneration, said: “This revised masterplan ensures that the existing and future residents have a town where the quality of life is really excellent.

“Development is inevitable but by having this masterplan we can make absolutely sure that the important facilities and infrastructure are provided and that these are of the highest possible standards.

“The revised masterplan has taken on board comments from the extensive community consultation and it presents a really exciting future for the town where the environment is at the heart of the regeneration.”