Sir – It seems timely to remind Councillor Ian Dowdle that last October, 1,300 local people's signatures were taken to our MP in Parliament stating that they did not want this area to be part of a huge town of more than 30,000 people. Specifically that any more than 2,000 houses and the consequent infrastructure would be unacceptable.

As it happens Mr Peter Parkinson was part of that delegation. This used the British democratic process of the Petition to the House of Commons, a process available to any British citizen since at least 1688.

I personally tramped around Bordon and Whitehill during August and September 2008 speaking to people on their doorsteps, during which time I met many interesting local families. Many of them told me that they had come here, to "the back of beyond", because they did not want to be part of some huge new 21st century town.

Clearly local democracy was lost when the "Green vision" figure of 2,500 houses suddenly became 5,500 or more. These people told me that some additional infrastructure is needed but 5,500 homes or more is totally unacceptable to obtain this limited infrastructure. Some of these signatures in this petition were, incidentally, from Mr Dowdle's ward constituents!

It is also timely to remind and inform Councillor Faith Thomas, Mr Dowdle's Conservative Party colleagues, East Hampshire District Council, Hampshire County Council and the current Labour government that this area is very sensitive ecologically. Large numbers of additional people will destroy the biodiversity of the area. Lots of extra lighting will damage the view of the stars of the night sky, which is still possible in this small rural town. We certainly don't want to become like Alton, whose glow and effect on the night sky can be seen for miles.

More people located in this area will lead to demands for yet more hard surfaced Rights of Way, a process which is currently destroying the wildlife richness of the existing bare ground habitats of footpaths and tracks all over the country.

Mr Dowdle refers to "helping to save the planet", well, this starts with control of the birth rate and immigration on a world, regional and local basis. Unfortunately our present so-called democracy and capitalism as a whole will not help on this subject.

The three main parties that control this "democracy" that we now have under the oversight of the European Union have no control on the numbers of people eligible to come to Britain from the continually enlarging European Community. Also, sadly, they appear to have no effective wish to determine the carrying capacity of the British Isles and then limit population levels. So we are subject to uncontrolled population growth and excessive inward migration, irrespective of the limitations of land or resources.

Before all the local Liberals and human rights enthusiasts get excited about the term "carrying capacity", effectively this relates to the questions that are being asked locally. Is there enough water to go round? Where will all the rubbish go etc? Can all the sewage be dispersed without destroying the water quality of our rivers? How do we prevent flooding? Can we retain our biodiversity-rich countryside, as well as beautiful countryside and farmland? Remember, most modern farmland is not biodiversity-rich countryside, it is just intensive cultivation – another industrial landscape.

With three million more homes desired in the South of England by Gordon Brown and the Labour Party, the answer to many of these questions is that the environment of southern England is going to be damaged. I loathe and resent seeing the biodiversity-rich countryside that remains both in Bordon and surrounding being squandered for a Labour-inspired Strategic Development Area. Is this their equivalent of gerrymandering? We need to regain control of our democracy, lost when a previous leader of Mr Dowdle's party surrendered it to Europe in 1975.

Clearly we need to rescind our agreement to the European Convention on Human Rights. This seems to have been used to prop up those world-wide governments and religions that promote profligate human population growth with no limitations to family size by forcing us to take in the excess via people-trafficking! It has been alleged that some of the newcomers even want polygamous relationships as a human right, this is unacceptable in a small country like England.

Nobody asked the British people democratically whether we wanted the very large immigrant population that we have now. Many immigrants are clearly making a valuable contribution to British society but the numbers are the core issue. Clearly immigration is one of the drivers for the large size of the development proposed in Bordon, as well as the growth in single adult families.

The only hope is that the Habitats' Regulations' Assessment will reduce the numbers of houses proposed but I expect that, like the British interpretation of most European procedures, even this will be a sham! Fundamentally I do not trust European Commission procedures as they are interpreted in Britain. This is because of the judgement clause that allows developments etc, to go ahead on the basis of "imperative reasons of over-riding public interest". I hope I am proved wrong. We will see.

Finally, The Optimum Population Trust have calculated that the equivalent of three more cities the size of London will have to be built in the next 50 years in Great Britain.

Let us earnestly hope that the new Bordon is not the start of one of them!

Stephen Miles, Drift Road, Whitehill