A Whitehill county councillor at the centre of Bordon's "Green Vision" scheme has hit back at criticism that the plans will harm the local environment. Adam Carew, shadow environment spokesman for EHDC, has expressed his concern at Tony Thorn's attack on the Green Town Vision in last week's Herald. Mr Thorn, a resident of Bordon for 25 years, claimed that the scheme would mean building 5,000 extra homes on Bordon's MoD land, resulting in a doubling of the population. He added that the development would "annihilate the town under a mountainous and obscene tsunami of concrete and bricks". However, Mr Carew this week stressed that the scheme will in fact protect the local countryside and put Bordon "on the map as a green town". He said: "Fifty eight percent of this parish is designated for wildlife. We are the only parish in the whole of the UK to have all 12 breeding reptiles and amphibians. "This wildlife is protected by national and international law that will not change because we have signed up to the Green Vision, as Mr Thorn seems to suggest. Quite the reverse. The Green Vision recognises our unique landscapes as something worth protecting." The Green Vision project is part of an initiative put forward by the Whitehill/Bordon Opportunity Group to consider how the council can work to improve facilities within the town over the next 20 years. The project was set up as a result of the Defence Training Review, which would either see a huge amount of land released as the MoD pulls out, or, alternatively, the MoD would bring major new investment to the town. Mr Carew also hit back at Mr Thorn's claims that he and fellow councillor Zoya Faddy were "incredibly naive" to support the campaign. Mr Carew continued: "Despite what Mr Thorn seems to think, the decision as to whether the MOD stays or goes is not up to myself or Zoya Faddy, nor is up to the district council. It is up to the government. "No one can predict the outcome of the Defence Training Review. We could have an enhanced MOD presence or withdrawal, so the number of houses is yet to be determined." "Mr Prescott is on record as saying that former MOD areas should be used for housing. If we are to see large scale sell-off of former Army sites in our town, it is critically important that any future development is truly sustainable. "Without this Green Vision and robust policies to enforce it, developers will do as they please." He added: "We need the Green Town Vision to ensure that we seize this opportunity to get shopping and leisure facilities that this community so badly needs. "It is also needed to get larger houses to correct our well-documented housing imbalance, and to protect our green spaces, historic buildings and playing fields for community use. "As I said at EHDC full council, this vision does not yet go quite far enough but it is a major step in the right direction. "The Green Town Vision has the support of all five Whitehill and Bordon district councillors, and was unanimously passed by both parties - Liberal Democrats and Conservatives at EHDC "It has the support of the Whitehill-Bordon Opportunity Steering Group - which includes Hampshire County Council, the MOD, SEEDA and Whitehill Town Council. "I believe that the local environment does matter. People are right to be proud of it and to want to protect it. "We should support this Green Vision precisely to avoid repeating the major planning errors of the past. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get it right. "The district council has promised to deliver this Green Vision and it is the task of local elected representatives and residents to see it does just that."
