BORDON'S Army presence will be slashed within four years after it was decided this week that the town's military training facilities are to be relocated to Wales. Defence Secretary Des Browne made the announcement to MPs in the Commons on Wednesday that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will be relocating to a new "centre of excellence" training facility to be built in St Athan. This includes Bordon's REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) and SEME (School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering) battalions, although a small enclave will be retained for REME vehicle recovery training. The decision to compress nine national training sites for the three armed forces (including Bordon) into one "tri-service" campus in St Athans by 2013 was described by Mr Brown as being about "providing a more flexible, responsive and effective training system" for new recruits. The MoD has confirmed that up to 150 hectares of land it owns in Bordon will be privately sold after 1,800 military and civilian staff and students leave the town in 2011, which will now become the focus for regeneration efforts in the town. The Whitehill and Bordon Opportunity Steering Group, set up to prepare for either a mass influx or redeployment of military personnel as a result of this decision, has announced a public meeting to reveal its "masterplan" for using the vacant land to attract more investment and facilities. Indications from the district council are that, if the full potential from the sale of the land is realised, between 5,000 and 6,500 new homes could be built in Bordon, which could roughly double the current 14,500 population. Since October 2005, the fate of Bordon's Army presence has hung between two rival consortium bids. The unsuccessful bid, by MC3 Training, would have built a state-of- the-art "tri-service" military college in Bordon, creating hundreds of new jobs and injecting huge sums into the local economy. In a statement, East Hampshire District Council said it was "naturally disappointed" that the "major investment" connected with the MC3 bid will not be coming to Whitehill and Bordon. But it added: "The MOD's decision to relocate Army training to Wales is a major opportunity to redevelop the town in line with residents' wishes. For almost three years, the Whitehill/Bordon Opportunity Group, made up of town, district and county councils, the MOD and government agencies has been developing a masterplan for the town. The aim of the plan is to create a more sustainable future for the town by building a better mix of housing to attract investment for a new town centre, shops and leisure facilities. Commenting on the decision on behalf of the Opportunity Steering Group, Ferris Cowper, leader of East Hampshire District Council, said: "This is great news for the residents and is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop the town in a way that meets the needs of residents and creates a sustainable future for the area. "The release of land will enable us to develop a better mix of housing a new town centre and to bring the countryside into town in line with our green vision for the area." The council said earlier consultations have shown that local residents in Whitehill and Bordon want a much better range of shops, leisure and town centre facilities, but not at the expense of the local environment. The Opportunity Steering Group's "Green Town Vision" seeks to balance the needs of people and the local environment. It envisions using the land released by the MoD to build environmentally friendly housing and facilities that will "suit a 21st-century lifestyle and make the area much more attractive as a place to live, shop and visit". The Steering Group will hold a public meeting on Friday, January 26, to "explain the implications of the decision and to inform people of the next steps towards creating a more sustainable community to meet the needs of residents, businesses and visitors alike". The meeting will be chaired by Mr Cowper and will include presentations by the MoD, and other representatives of the Opportunity Steering Group to introduce the full implications of the decision and to outline how residents will be involved in deciding the future of the area. The Steering Group's cause has already received a boost from Bordon's MP James Arbuthnot, who said on Wednesday that he had obtained an assurance from the Defence Secretary that the release of any land in Bordon would be managed "so as to benefit the local community". Mr Arbuthnot said: "The award of contracts to the Metrix consortium at RAF St Athan means that Bordon will lose the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (SEME). "Sad as we will be to see them go, if this is properly handled it could prove an opportunity for Bordon to attract new businesses and facilities in a way which could benefit the town. "The Secretary of State agreed to my request and has committed to ensure that the release of land owned by the Ministry of Defence will be managed in such a way as to make it a positive move for Bordon as well as for the MoD." Whitehill and Bordon county councillor Adam Carew described the decision as "the biggest thing to happen to this community in 50 years" and told all residents that "we must all work hard together to get it right". Mr Carew added: "A number of people in the town will be disappointed that Whitehill and Bordon are not going to get a multi-million pound investment in the shape of the Defence Training College. "But this has been a political decision by the government and we must now seize this opportunity to get the shops and facilities our community so desperately needs. "The critical thing here is that the Green Town Vision holds good and we must use this once- in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a more sustainable future. "We want see a truly green town with innovative eco-design for the 21st century to really put Whitehill and Bordon on the map. "This is our chance to push for more and better facilities, a chance to correct our well- documented housing imbalance, to get more and better shops while safeguarding our internationally important landscape and green spaces for local people and wildlife." EHDC's chief executive Will Godfrey said: "The sale of this land, if it happens as it should, will provide a major opportunity to redevelop the town. "The message from the community is that they want Bordon improved and the land which will be freed up following this announcement will help us to get the outcome they want. "Our view all along is that there were advantages and disadvantages of both outcomes so we did not actively support either bid or get involved in the decision. But we genuinely believed there were benefits from both. "We have already had discussions with Metrix (the winning consortium) about what its plans are, and we want to involve as many people as possible in the work of the steering group so the resultant opportunities can be grasped. "We want to talk more to the MoD to get a clear idea of how they think things will unravel. Nothing will open in Wales until 2013 so it's not as if the Army will just decamp tomorrow. "In the meantime, the benefit to everyone is simply knowing what the outcome is. The worst thing is the speculation and the uncertainty. "The steering group couldn't proceed with the masterplan until the outcome of this decision was known, but it has been talking to the community about the Green Town Vision for over a year. "This is to make sure we know how we can work with other agencies to deliver what people want in Bordon. The masterplan will now put flesh on the bones. "There are lots of issues which need to be resolved with the Local Plan (governing housing development in the region) so there are no concrete figures yet as to how much housing could appear in the town. "But based on those facilities people want, we need a 5,000 to 6,500 home growth to lever in those kind of regeneration opportunities. "I would encourage the community to get as involved as possible, because it's their town. East Hampshire District Council is not in the business of doing things to people, we want to work with people." Ian Dowdle, chairman of the Whitehill and Bordon Business Breakthrough Group, said: "Now we know that 2011 is the date we have got to work to, we now need to move things forward. "We need to progress with the Forest Centre Integration project and the feedback from consultants working on the High Street design brief so that we are best placed to deal with the effects of this MoD decision. "We are going through a lot of changes and there will inevitably be a lot of public consultation following this announcement but we must be prepared in all the regeneration projects to accept what the majority want and we need to be united as a town in that respect. "It's good news that we know what's happening, we know what lies before us and it will be a huge benefit to the town but we must rise to the challenge." All residents are welcome to attend the meeting on Friday, January 26, at the Forest Community Centre, Pinehill Road, Bordon, at 7-30 pm. More information can be found on East Hampshire District Council's web pages at http://www.easthants.gov.uk/ehdc/">www.easthants.gov.uk/ehdc/ whitehillbordonoppweb.nsf
