But with the new housing coming to the area, locals and councillors have mixed views over whether much-needed shops will follow.
An apartment block of 18 new, shared- ownership flats in Bordon was unveiled in an official ceremony at St Lucia Lodge on Wednesday.
St Lucia Lodge was originally built in 1937 as an Army officers' mess, but the surrounding area has been sold by the MOD for redevelopment.
At the ceremony at St Lucia Lodge, Whitehill town councillor Zoya Faddy, said: "If we get incremental housing, we will get very little infrastructure.
"We want limited housing developments or enough to be a catalyst to leisure facilities. We're losing too many shops.
"I think what we need here is quality developments, whether it's housing or retail, affordable housing or open housing."
Zoya Faddy explained her disappointment when the land at St Lucia Lodge was sold. The council had planned to develop the site into an hotel or a further education college, with a business centre also on the land.
She said: "Unfortunately it was sold. The hotel or further education college would have been ideal for the site. But I am glad the building has been preserved."
Councillors sounded resounding agreement that the site and the flats have been built extremely well built and many said they would like to move in themselves.
The chairman of EHDC, Yvonne Parker-Smith, thought the development would help improve Bordon's infrastructure.
She said: "It's a very positive move, encouraging people to stay in the area.
"It can only enhance, and hopefully encourage infrastructure such as more shops, a cinema or a bowling alley."
EHDC councillor Don Mayes said: "I would hope more shops will follow. I would sell my house and move in."
The mayor of Whitehill , Faith Thomas, said: "It's a positive step, and hopefully, it will keep some of the youngsters in the area." The first tenants are all set to move in later this month.
Fiona Cruickshank, the field director for the housing corporation, said: "It is good practice to change hospitals and MoD sites which no longer fulfil their function. It passes the acid test- I would like to live here.
"It's easy to promote new houses as a good thing with examples like this."
And the policy of selling off MoD land has made one Bordon couple ecstatic this week as it allowed them to purchase their new home, which before had seemed as if it were only a "pipe dream".
Annington Heights, off Budds Lane, is another MoD site which has now been sold. Sixty-four former MoD houses are now selling fast, helping people in the area get on to the property ladder.
Lucy Rey, a 22-year-old nurse, and her husband Gus, a 22-year-old IT technician, have been searching and saving to buy their first home in Hampshire. for the past two years
Lucy and Gus work in the Bordon area and could not afford to move further away. With a limited number of affordable homes available to buy in Bordon and Whitehill, they have had to wait.
Mr Rey said: "Buying our first home seemed to be a bit of a pipe dream. There always seemed to be something working against us.
"We were saving as much money as we could, but house prices kept on going up and then there was always a shortage of the kind of homes that we could afford in the area where we wanted to be."
In July, everything changed for the couple when they found out about Annington Heights in Bordon.
He said: "The homes fitted the bill perfectly and were exactly what we'd been looking for."
The price of the homes started at £119,950 and there are 19 homes still for sale at Annington Heights. First-time buyers have now bought 70 per cent of the homes at Annington Heights.
It all started in 1996 when Annington purchased more than 57,600 homes from the Ministry of Defence and in so doing, became the largest private owner of residential property in the United Kingdom.
The majority of these homes were leased back to the MoD for continued use as service accommodation.
However, each year the MoD terminates the lease of those properties across England and Wales that are surplus to their requirements and they are handed back to Annington.
Annington then looks to refurbish the homes and surrounding environments and puts them back into the national housing stock.