This week East Hampshire District Council announced that it was to co-ordinate a massive consultation where it will ask the town what its needs and wishes are for the future.
The move comes after repeated calls from Whitehill Town Council and the townÕs district councillors for EHDC to take the lead so that Bordon is ready in the event of the Army announcing its departure.
The future of the REME and SEME soldiers in the town is the subject of a massive government review and it is expected that the garrison may leave in 2008 and form part of a new tri-service base at HMS Sultan in Gosport.
But the MoD has pointed out that no final decision has been made and that none will be announced for some time.
Despite this, town and district councillors want to be ahead of the game and have in place a master plan detailing which MoD facilities they want to take over, the future of the married quarters and how they would like Army land redeveloped to meet other economic, business, social and housing needs.
And, after receiving repeated requests, EHDC has agreed to undertake the major exercise to look at all of these things.
Council leader Elizabeth Cartwright said: ÒThe council recognises the vacuum which the departure of the MoD from Bordon would leave and is anxious to start planning for the future development of the town.Ó
The MoD and key organisations, including Hampshire County Council and South East England Development Agency, have also pledged their support.
The review, expected to be launched in October, will contain studies of the impact the likely withdrawal of the MoD would have on Bordon.
A massive public consultation exercise will also be launched to ask residents and businesses what they want so that a ÒvisionÓ for the future of the town will be agreed.
The final stage will be the development of a master plan which will act as a blueprint and guide future development, including the redevelopment and reuse of the vacated land.
A high-level steering group, expected to consist of councillors and officers, will oversee the master planning exercise.
District councillor and chairman of the town councilÕs planning committee Michael Watkinson said: ÒThis all resulted from Whitehill Town CouncilÕs request to set up a committee which they have been making for some time.
ÒI must say that that it is very, very welcome that at long last all of the problems in Whitehill and Bordon of a lack of infrastructure, retail, leisure and other facilities are going to be addressed.
ÒFor a long time there has been a lot of hot air about the tackling of this problems and it has been very difficult to get something done.
ÒI am hopeful that, on this occasion with the MoDÕs assistance, something significant can be done instead of the very small progress made so far.Ó
Mr Watkinson said that over the years EHDC had Òunder investedÓ in Whitehill and Bordon but was hopeful that this could soon be turned around.
He explained that the councilÕs economic regeneration plans, which are still being put together, will help with the creation of the master plan.
The councillor also pointed out that the results of the ongoing town health check will also be fed into the master plan.
ÒThe town health check is looking at a range of issues including retail, social issues, transport problems and a whole stack of community issues and quite a lot of good work has already been done on this,Ó he said.
ÒThis, and the economic development plan, will help us look at one of the biggest problems we will face once the MoD leaves - how to bring businesses into the town to provide the jobs.
ÒThat is going to be such an important part of the process - how to make this community self sustaining.Ó