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£10.69 million boost to Eco-town

Monday 8th of February 2010

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Whitehill Bordon has been given a massive £10.69million boost because of its Eco-town status and this will be used to start exciting projects in the town immediately.

The funding was announced today by the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG).

Whitehill Bordon has been given £9.35million from CLG and £1.34million has been given to the town from the Department for Children Schools and Family. This totals £10.69million.

Read what councillors and MPs have to say about the announcement

East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) submitted a bid for funds at the end of last year (on behalf of the Whitehill Bordon Opportunity Project) and this money will be used to improve the town's facilities.

Another large tranche of funding is set to be available for the town next year.

This year's funding includes £250,000 which will be used for Hampshire County Council's feasibility study of providing rail links to the town.

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The announcement said the town will be a "national pilot for creating new greenspace and biodiversity resource so as to attract visitors away from the Specially Protected Areas and Special areas of Conservation that surround the site".

One of the most exciting projects will be to start rolling out free broadband to everyone living in the town.

This will be done in three phases. The first will be to install Wi-Fi at the Forest Community Centre and 12 other community buildings across the town.

The next phase will involve providing free broadband for 150 homes.

And the last phase will provide free high-speed broadband to all households in the town - where possible some may be wireless.

This will put Whitehill Bordon at the cutting edge of technology and save residents money.

It is hoped that work on this will start later this year - and it is expected to take two years to complete.

Green-fingered residents will be pleased to hear that some of the funding will be used to provide allotments in the town and suitable plots are being sought at the moment. It is likely that these will be rented on a short-term basis.    

The allotments will enable residents to grow their own food and cut down on 'food miles' and start reducing the size of their carbon footprint.

The disused Fire Station is being bought by EHDC from the Ministry of Defence and will be converted into an 'Eco-Station' which will provide much needed community and training facilities as well as a base for information about the Eco-town and retrofitting. This is making energy efficient improvements to existing housing and other buildings.

There will be a dedicated room to chart the natural history of the town and an area for the local history society collection.

EHDC will be building a demonstration show-house which will showcase many of the latest technologies and design techniques which will help people save energy. The council is soon to appoint an internationally-renowned architect to design this.

There will also be an international architectural competition to build the first four demonstration eco-homes on this site. EHDC has planned to start this project with leading architects to set the tone for exemplary development in the future.

Key public buildings, which are in Hampshire County Council's (HCC) ownership, will be retrofitted to improve the energy efficiency and so reduce the carbon footprint. This will include the library and five primary schools.

The aim is to improve the thermal performance of existing school buildings, to reduce energy consumption, improve control systems and provide real-time information for users of the buildings.

The real-time information will be seen on a large digital display in a prominent position in the building.

This will engage pupils at the schools and visitors at the library and heighten awareness of the importance of energy consumption and management.

The range of buildings to be retrofitted will provide valuable lessons for retrofitting improvements across the UK.  

Design work has already started on this and the major on-site works will be completed over the summer holidays later this year.

A key issue for the town is transport. Hampshire County Council is considering a range of innovative and significant improvements to the transport system within the town. These will be designed to encourage travel by modes alternative to the car and to reduce carbon emissions.
 
Further detail of the improvements will be announced shortly, but improvements will focus on better provision and access to essential services and facilities without using a car. This will promote modern and innovative transport systems and practices, and improve existing transport systems.    

A ‘Memorandum of Understanding' between the three major landowners, EHDC, HCC and MoD, is also being signed in the next few weeks to agree how land will be used and benefits ‘pooled'.

There will also be projects to benefit the community ranging from eco information packs and retrofitting of existing homes to biomass studies and a number of habitat improvement and biodiversity projects.

EHDC will employ countryside rangers and community development workers to help residents take advantage of the benefits of Eco-town status.

EHDC will be improving the town's ‘green infrastructure' straight away - before major development starts.

This means starting work on the ‘green loop' and ‘wildlife corridors' - so that animals can live in more areas of the town and the overall aim is to increase the number of plants and animals.  

It will also take pressure off the Special Protected Areas and the Special Areas of Conservation that surround the site.

Natural England will be working as part of the partnership to ensure best practice.

Negotiations are currently taking place with several landowners, including the MoD to enable early release of land where demonstration projects can be built. These will be mixed-use projects focusing not just on eco-housing but on issues like water saving, green business units and reducing car use.

There will be five demonstration schemes which will all be subject to further design work and will be required to go through the normal planning processes.

These include:
 
Viking Park: Mixed use project including ‘green' offices, leisure facilities, live-work units and some other housing, in accordance with the masterplan. A feasibility study will be started immediately.

Quebec Barracks: Mixed use site including employment and housing (approx. 95 units). Work on this site could start in early 2011 - subject to a satisfactory conclusion to the Defence Training Contracts. 

High Street/Chalet Hill: This could be a very popular and high profile mixed-use project - delivering more shops, facilities and town centre housing.

EHDC will carry out a further feasibility study to establish options, partnership potential and start negotiations with owners.

Bordon Working Men's Club: Construction of 18 units. Work will be subject to completion of satisfactory planning negotiations and a revised scheme which is agreed locally. Completion by September 2011.

Moorlands Site: This site already has planning permission for 47 luxury homes.