WHITEHILL Town Council’s planning committee has given its backing to an energy centre to serve new infrastructure in Bordon.

Although the title “eco-town” has mostly disappeared from the town-regeneration project - despite being still in use on Hampshire County Council’s website - the ethos of low-carbon, green technology remains a key aspiration for developers.

At its recent planning committee meeting, the town council submitted no objection to plans for the detached energy-centre building, which will provide power to the new town centre, set to open in 2020 on land adjacent to Budds Lane and the A325.

Now it is over to the district council to allow or refuse the project which, like much of the upcoming development at Prince Philip Barracks, already has outline permission.

“The energy centre is a building that contains a combined-heat-and-power plant and is fuelled by natural gas,” James Child, project lead at the Whitehill and Bordon Regeneration Company which is developing the barracks, said.

“Ultimately, it is a gas-fired engine that produces electricity and heat. The primary function of the plant is to deliver heat (for space heating and hot water) to the town centre, including the new leisure centre.

“The power output is dependent on demand for heat – the greater the demand, the greater the amount of power we can generate.

“This, in turn, reduces the amount of power we draw down from the national grid, and provides more resilience for energy generation locally.

“The energy centre will be managed by Engie, a French multi-national utilities corporation, which operates in electrical generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear and renewable energy. It works extensively throughout the UK and Europe.

“In terms of sustainability, the energy centre will have an efficiency of around 85 per cent in terms of energy generation, compared to a standard power station with an equivalent efficiency of 45 per cent.

“Standard power stations do not capture the heat they generate, instead this is expelled into the atmosphere as a wasted by-product; whereas, the new plant will capture the heat from the electricity generation process and produce hot water for use within the town centre, which is what makes it a far more efficient use of the fuel.”

The scheme is just one part of the town centre, detailed in a reserved-matters planning application, with the district council, which describes the regeneration to date as “rapid and intense” and says: “The main gift to the town will be the first phase of a new town centre.”

In the application, developers say they are delivering on “all five of the objectives of the vision statement” presented to the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, the property arm of the Ministry of Defence, during the bid, which ended in the Regeneration Company’s appointment.

These include greenspace, education, transport and new homes. While all are said to be “critical components” of the regeneration, the town centre is “unique in bringing these aspects together”. The first phase of the creation of the town centre will “dramatically change the face of Whitehill and Bordon”, the application says. From its current position as an “inferior retail destination”, it “will start to punch above its weight”. And for that, it will need some energy.