BORDONÕS dream of an official town centre could be realised.

For at a special meeting last Friday, attended by all three tiers of local government, councillors and officers agreed that they were all aiming for the same goal Ð better facilities for Bordon and Whitehill.

The meeting was attended by town clerk Linda Tiley, town councillor Don Mayes, town and district councillor Zoya Faddy, district councillor Michael Watkinson.

And chairman of the Bordon and Whitehill Working Party and district councillor Geoffrey Whittle, BordonÕs county councillor John Filer and assistant county planning officer Roger Lawes.

The meeting, held in the Whitehill Town Council chamber, was set up after the county council objected to plans, put forward by EHDC, to combine Chalet Hill, the Forest Centre and the High Street to create a designated shopping area.

Previously the Forest Shopping Centre was Òa second tier district centreÓ with the High Street and Chalet Hill being on level par with areas such as Liss and Clanfield in being classed as a small local centre.

But the plans would mean that Bordon would finally have what neighbouring towns, Petersfield and Alton, have had for years - a designated town centre.

The new town centre boundary would run along the High Street from Chalet Hill to just past the entrance of Whitehill Chase.

It would then go around and leave out the small housing estate off Woodpecker Road and then down Conde Way, around the Chase Community Hospital and up to the Forest Road, Bordon, junction.

The boundary would then go along Forest Road, go around the Forest Shopping Centre, and up Heathcote Road before continuing along Forest Road and finally go up Chalet Hill.

Local residents, Whitehill Town Council and East Hampshire District Council have supported the plans but Hampshire County Council believes that the town should remain as a second tier district centre.

Its comments to the district council on the plans said: ÒIt should remain a district centre. (There is) no objection to additional facilities if appropriate for district centre.Ó

The county council also objects to plans for a large scale increase in retail in the town.

But Mr Filer strived to set up last weekÕs special meeting in an attempt to reach an agreement, which will benefit the people of Bordon and Whitehill.

And everyone at the meeting agreed that it had been Òextremely usefulÓ.

Town and district councillors were relieved to hear from Mr Lawes that the countyÕs objection to the town centre plans for the town was a technical rather than a substantive matter.

He said that the county council was aware of the difficulties caused whenever the provision of infrastructure and facilities failed to keep pace with the rate of new housing development in a community.

And he explained that the planning process requires the county council to consider all policies and proposals in local plans, such as the East Hampshire Second Review, to determine if they conform with the policies in the county structure plan.

He said Whitehill/Bordon is not listed as a first tier shopping centre in the structure plan and, in the absence of any clear justification to the change, an objection was registered to the proposal to define a large area between the A325 and the Forest Centre as a town centre.

However local members were pleased to learn that the county council could have made a much stronger objection by refusing to issue a Certificate of Conformity and had not considered this necessary.

Town and district councillors want the town to be named as a first tier town because they believe this will attract commercial investment to the town and they are determined to argue their case at the public enquiry.

But for now the town council and district planning officers are looking to another meeting in early October, where they will have the chance to put their case for Bordon to have an official town centre to the county planning officer.

ÒThis will help to take it a stage further,Ó said Mr Filer.

ÒThe first step was making sure we all understood each other and I am pleased with the success of the meeting last week and am now looking to OctoberÕs meeting.Ó