A LOCAL resident this week hit out at Bordon's "Green Vision" plans and claimed that district councillors were guilty of selling out the profile of Bordon. After last week's Herald report on the Green Vision, Tony Thorn, a resident of Bordon for 25 years, said he believes that the proposals are over-hyped and held stark ramifications for the town. Mr Thorn said: "At a public meeting chaired by the East Hampshire District Council leader Andrew Pattie back in 2004, the attendees were left in no doubt over the price to be paid by Bordon and Whitehill residents for enjoying similar shopping facilities, and general community infrastructure, to those which are already enjoyed by our neighbours living in Alton and Petersfield. "It would mean building 5,000 extra homes on Bordon's MoD land, providing, of course, that the long-winded defence review finally freed up the requisite acreage. "Otherwise, so we were informed, Bordon would be unable to attract the major high street retailers whom we seek, in our town." He continued: "Let's put that in perspective. Five thousand extra homes in Bordon/ Whitehill equates to a doubling of our population. Or, to put it another way, Bordon will have to expand, population-wise, to almost twice the size of Alton or Petersfield, before we can expect decent shopping facilities. "What kind of wonderful, 'Green Vision' deal is that?" Mr thorn said that if EHDC attempted to sell to the citizens of Alton or Petersfield the prospect of accommodating another 5,000 houses, or 15,000 extra people, in their beautiful historic environments, blood would spilled "So, EHDC won't even contemplate such suicidal stupidity in those towns. But they'll have no such reservations about dumping 5,000 of the huge numbers of new houses demanded by John Prescott in the south of England, on our doorstep, providing the MoD decamp," said Mr Thorn. He added: "Bordon is, and I strongly suspect always will be, the 'poor man' of north east Hampshire." Mr Thorn also highlighted the difference in infrastructure between Bordon and its neighbours Alton and Petersfield. He pointed out that Bordon has no railway station and did not enjoy a network of major roads to provide an easy access or exit from the town.  "I have lived in this town for 25 years, and while I would dearly love to see it improved in so many ways, I have no desire to see its very essence destroyed, simply to accommodate John Prescott's housing targets, and EHDC's compliance to their political masters by offering up Bordon as a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter. "But what really concerns me about this cynical, district council, marketing exercise, are the attitudes displayed by councillors Adam Carew and Zoya Faddy. "Are they guilty of complicity in this shabby sell-out of Bordon/Whitehill's profile as a small, pleasant, country town? "Or are they so incredibly naive that they are prepared to support, in good faith, a massive development, which will annihilatethe town under a mountainous and obscene tsunami of concrete and bricks, doubling its population?" Mr Thorn asked.

l To find out what kind of amenities local residents would like to see as a result of the Green Vision, turn to page 3.