THE leader of East Hampshire District Cou-ncil, Ferris Cowper, has urged Whitehill and Bordon residents to consider the positive implications of the eco-town bid. The eco-town bid has attracted widespread controversy over recent weeks, with concerns that residents are not being listened to and that the number of potential houses is too high. Conservative Mr Cowper told the Herald that the eco-town bid was good news for the town, which faces a high level of development following the departure of the Army in 2012 - also known as The Whitehill-Bordon Opportunity. Mr Cowper said: "In terms of the district council, we see the Whitehill-Bor-don Opportunity as just that - it's a colossal, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is the chance for the community to get all of the facilities that it has wanted for at least ten years. "The debate is this: should we seize the moment or let it go? For the district council, this is it - we want to grab this chance with both hands. And that is true of the whole of the district council - this cuts across the party line and all parties should be giving a consistent message. It is obvious that people are worried about the amount of housing, but the only figure in question is 5,000 to 5,500 new homes. There is no other number in question. "People are asking: 'Why can't we have fewer houses?' Well, if you follow logic, if we do not seize this opportunity - if we do not take control of this situation and make the deal - the land released by the Ministry of Defence will be auctioned on a piecemeal basis. "Those developers would then build as many houses as they possibly could on the brownfield sites of the town. If that happens, the town would get 5,500 homes at the very least and, if the developers build flats, we could see 8,000 new homes. "We would not have the funding, or the new town centre, but there would still be a huge amount of new houses in the town. If we go with the eco-town bid on the back of the Whitehill-Bor-don Opportunity, we can get a greatly improved town." Responding to concerns that 5,000 homes would damage the ecological balance of the town, Mr Cowper said: "If the eco-town bid goes ahead, we will have to show that we can enhance the area's environment, and so the importance of the specially protected sites and the unusual wildlife in the area will be protected. We will work towards bringing these areas together in order to create a 'green lung' for the town. "Added to that, we will have the town centre, the recreation, the retail and the green transport links that we so desperately want in the town. It seems to me that this is a no brainer. "If we get the eco-town, we get 5,000 to 5,500 homes, a huge amount of investment, the help of regional officers who work to help the environment and a state-of-the-art town centre." Mr Cowper admitted that the district council had made mistakes with the eco-town bid, causing confusion and concerns over the number of new homes. He said: "We have neglected to communicate all of these points on a widescale basis. "We now have plans to launch an intense programme of communications and would like to involve all the residents. We will be holding meetings at the Forest Community Centre and taking the information on roadshows." The programme of communications will begin next month.
