BORDON residents are strongly opposed to a town council proposal to remove the wooden fencing surrounding Ashbury Road. Whitehill Town Council recently sent a questionnaire to residents of Ashbury Road and the neighbouring Forest Road, to gather opinion about the possible removal of part, or even all of the fence after it had been subjected to vandalism and as it is in a state of disrepair. Town councillors said at Monday's meeting that they had received a very good response to the letters and found that there was some support for the fencing to be moved back. This would create some greenery which might improve the general appearance of the site. However there was no support for any other kind of action. The questionnaire also found that the fencing belonged to the residents whose houses backed onto it and not East Hampshire District Council as first thought. Many people attended the meeting to support those voicing their objections to the idea. Jim Philips, an Ashbury Road resident, outlined the main objections that people had to the proposal. He said suggestions by the town council that the removal, repair or repositioning of the fence will in someway effect businesses in Bordon was "unbelievable". Mr Philips also felt that the purpose of the fence was not sufficiently appreciated by the council. "The fence provides an effective health and safety pollution barrier for both noise and exhaust fumes from high volume traffic during the day. It also provides an effective personnel barrier and keeps the children where they can be observed, not only by parents but by neighbours who they know," he said. Residents were also concerned that removing the fence would not reduce vandalism but actually bring it closer to their homes. A car was recently vandalised on their road for the first time and they believed that this would not have happened if the fence had been in good repair. if the fence was in better condition, they believed, a would-be vandal could not have seen the car, furthermore their escape routes would have been limited to highly visible areas. "We are worried because it would devalue our property if the fence was taken down, the vandals would then come to our front doors and we would no longer feel protected," added Mr Philips. The residents did offer a possible solution which was to build a brick wall, similar to the one on Conde Way. The wall has been there for 28 years and the maintenance is inexpensive. A brick wall would also cope with noise pollution a lot more effectively than a wooden fence. Many residents believed that would also be a much better way to combat the vandalism problem. Whitehill Town Council seemed to agree that installing a brick wall could be a suitable possibility but mentioned that this would be the responsibility of the home owners. One resident mentioned that he would be happy to put some money towards building a brick wall. Margaret Disney, a local resident asked if there would be any funding from the town council to go towards the wall. The council said that they will look into the possibility.
