A STUDY by Hampshire County Council has shown that Bordon, Whitehill, and Lindford do not have enough vital services for residents to use. The Accessibility Study confirms Whitehill-Bordon and the neighbouring village of Lindford are not sustainable communities and as such, residents need to travel outside of the town to access full facilities. County councillor Adam Carew said: "The study has confirmed what residents have known for ages that Whitehill, Bordon and the village of Lindford are not sustainable communities and that there is a real need for more local facilities and improved public transport. "People who live here know how difficult it is to get access to vital services. We knew things were bad- but this is the first time it's really been quantified. "Not being on a rail route and having our buses cut by the same county council that is conducting the accessibility survey has not exactly helped. "The good thing is we now have the evidence as ammunition to demand more facilities and better public transport when it comes to planning our new green town." Whitehill, Bordon and Lindford was chosen as one of four pilot studies in the whole of Hampshire due to the resident's inability to access a range of vital services. The study looked at how easy it was for people in Whitehill, Bordon and Lindford to access a range of vital services including doctors, post offices, employment, supermarkets and shopping centres. The town is one of the largest settlements in Hampshire that lacks a railway or easy access to the rail network. The survey found that access to nearby cities, Guildford and Basingstoke, was poor with reasonable access to the local market towns of Alton and Farnham. Adam Carew said: "The lack of public transport is well documented and has not been helped by the county council's own bus cuts over recent years." Bus transport to hospitals and access to GP surgeries in the local community are deemed to be quite good but bus connections to hospitals were shown to be inconvenient. "Given the woeful lack of public transport – both rail and bus – it will surprise no-one that most people have to rely on private cars. Even then the amount of car use is exceptionally high. "We are supposed to be creating a modal shift away from cars and onto public transport to cut congestion and green houses gasses that cause climate change," said Mr Carew. "Comments from residents again highlighted the lack of things for young people to do and the need to expand the range of shops available locally. "We want to encourage people to spend their hard earned money here supporting local jobs and businesses rather than elsewhere. "Clearly the whole issue of providing more facilities locally and better public transport is something we will need to address as part of our Green Town Vision." Mr Carew added: "I strongly welcome the county's commitment to providing more facilities here locally, it's something we are all working on as part of the Whitehill-Bordon Opportunity."
