BORDON could become a "ghost town" if the Army pulls out and land is allocated to housing, a group hoping to build a military training centre says. The Hampshire-based consortium MC3 Training is hoping the Ministry of Defence (MoD) chooses its bid to build a multi-million pound military training college of excellence, instead of its rival Metrix which wants to build one in Wales instead. MC3's project director, Steve Fraser, said that the rival bid from Metrix would risk of turning Bordon into a "ghost town". He added: "If our bid fails, it would result in at least 800 jobs being lost in the Bordon area and that would be worth a lot of money. "Just the loss of the trainees' disposable incomes equates to between £6m and £10m per annum, and that is not even mentioning the civilians who would move away to find work elsewhere. It would have a major repercussions and affect a lot of people in the town." He believes if the Metrix bid is successful, this could lead to a major housing development on Bordon's Prince Philip Barracks site. He said: "If the Army did pull out, it would leave a fairly big black hole in Bordon, and the building would not begin immediately so it is not ideal. There could be a five- year gap and you could have a ghost town if you are not too careful." MC3's project would see £250m of capital investment. Mr Fraser said: "The site is here already so we are not going to the middle of nowhere to redevelop a greenfield site. It fits in well with government directives on conservation. "It's about jobs, the local economy and reviving a town which needs reviving. And it also helps with all the good stuff the town is trying achieve, such as the plans to generate the town centre." MC3 predicts its plans to build a training centre for the Army, Navy and Royal Airforce would create more than 1,000 jobs and bring in £36m to the area yearly. Land would also be released from the Army camp, which would allow between 2,000 and 2,500 homes to be built in the town. The number of staff and trainers at the camp would increase from 860 to 1,300. The proposed armed forces student population would more than double, boosting it to 2,240, and 500 extra jobs would be created to build the new facility. But Don Mayes, Mayor of Bordon, said: "If we are only going to get a few houses, I don't see a great benefit in it." A final decision is set to be made by the MoD in October, with work on the project due to begin by the middle of next year.