WHITEHILL Town Council is to draw up a list of questions and demands it will send to the body overseeing the sale of Ministry of Defence land. Town councillors agreed to hold a workshop next month with members of the Town Partnership to discuss the "implications of the withdrawal" from the town, due to take place by 2013. The meeting is expected to generate a list of concerns and questions town leaders want answered by the Whitehill and Bordon Opportunity Steering Group, as well as a list of Ministry of Defence (MoD) buildings and green spaces they want retained for community use. The action was agreed amid fears that local councillors were under represented on the steering group and were not being kept up to date with the scheme, previously described by district council chief executive Will Godfrey as "the biggest project the council has ever been involved with". And it follows a letter from Nigel Welch, chairman of the Whitehill, Bordon and District Sports Council, to MoD representatives on the steering group saying it would be a "massive own goal" if the town lost top-rated military sports facilities. The Woolmer Forest Heritage Society has written to the steering group highlighting buildings and areas with historical significance, which should be spared from development. The town council has declared its support for the Phoenix Theatre, which is adamant about staying at its current MoD-owned site. Councillor Mike Scott said the theatre's productions "touch every part of the community and those outside it". After the outcome of the government's Defence Training Review was made known in January, a public meeting was held at which steering group panelists and Bordon's MP James Arbuthnot told residents that future development would take place in a way beneficial to the town. Despite further assurances made to local businessmen by Mr Godfrey last month, there are still no firm details of how the scheme will proceed, prompting concern among councillors and homeowners. Adam Carew, one of three town councillors on the steering group panel, said he had been as startled as everyone else to hear talk at January's meeting of up to 8,000 new homes in Bordon - a figure which district council leaders insist is much higher than the "optimum" number. Mr Carew said Mr Godfrey's announcement that half the new homes would be on greenfield (undeveloped) sites had also been a surprise. Mr Carew told members at the last full council meeting that he and other supporters of the proposal were "concerned that the whole future of Whitehill and Bordon is in the balance". He said: "This is the biggest thing to happen to this community for 50 years, therefore it is essential Whitehill Town Council has a big say as to what is going on. "The reason for this proposal is that we think we need a meeting to say how we, as a council, would like to see Whitehill and Bordon develop, by telling the Opportunity Steering Group what green spaces and buildings we want to see retained for community use. The Opportunity Steering Group seems to be going through a metamorphosis, and one thing we need to see is better involvement of town councillors. "As we do not have a parish plan or a design statement, it would be useful to put together a non-statutory document which says how we would like to see our town develop." It was originally suggested the discussions should take place in a secret session (excluding members of the public and press) for fear that details of the project not yet in the public domain might be mentioned. But town council chairman and Bordon Mayor Don Mayes told councillors: "That means we are being directed by the district council to put across what it wants local people to see and hear. But this discussion should be about what we (the town council) want to see and what we want to say to the Opportunity Steering Group." One building sure to be on the list of concerns is MoD-owned Barbados House, home of the Phoenix Theatre, whose staff wrote to the town council asking it to support their efforts to remain in the building after the land is sold off. Theatre director Jane Dawes revealed the Barbados House Association had set up a working party to plan for the future, which had concluded it would be ideal for the theatre to remain in its current location because it was established on the site, with easy access and parking near the A325, and was also on the right side of town to attract audiences from Alton and Farnham. It was also felt that, being in the heart of the town's military land in Station Road, the theatre could act as a focal point for new housing developments which may take place next to it. The association also wants Barbados House to undergo a refurbishment and have the building and car park extended as part of work to improve community facilities alongside new development. Mrs Dawes said members of the association were already collecting signatures on a petition to keep the theatre, and were planning to conduct a survey to see if residents felt its services were of value to the town. Mr Welch has written to the MoD highlighting that the town already has competition-level military sports facilities which would be valuable if opened to the public, in particular the Army football pitch and swimming pool. There have been fears over the future of Bordon's sports facilities since panelists confirmed at January's steering group meeting that the Army swimming pool and Bordon and Oakhanger Sports Club were important assets but their fate would be determined in time.
