Sir, – A threat to the future of Farnham which, to my mind, is as great if not greater than the East Street development, is the proposed Blackwater Valley sub-region. It has had little publicity or debate and few people in the town seem to know of its existence. This proposed sub-region, devised by John Prescott's office as part of the South East Region, is composed of Aldershot, Farnborough, Fleet, Camberley, Bracknell and Farnham.
The Blackwater Valley Network will be a partnership of the nine councils covering the area and will promote a co-ordinated approach to land use, transportation, environmental and economic issues. The spatial options for this sub-region include concentrating development around key town centres and introducing more industry and housing into the area. A large conurbation will be formed and it is very doubtful if our strategic gap will survive, with planning decisions removed from our councils and taken by the government in London. Control over our own area will disappear.
In this scheme Farnham has not been included in the sub-region of market towns, consisting of Godalming, Haslemere and Cranleigh, with which we have much in common. Can our councillors persuade the architects of this scheme to move Farnham out of the northern sub-region and group us with the other market towns in order for us to keep our identity and the character of our town?