The Whitehill and Bordon Regeneration Company this week outlined some of the features expected, including an eight-screen cinema, modern health facilities, a hotel, restaurants and a new leisure centre.
More detailed plans, being developed for the new town centre at the former Prince Philip Barracks, will be revealed at a public consultation on February 25.
Attendees will be able to ask questions and give feedback to representatives involved in the development, and a model and virtual reality imagery will give a “sense of how the new town centre will look and feel”.
James Child, project lead at developer the Whitehill and Bordon Regeneration Company, said: “We have been working closely with retailers, a cinema operator, food-and-beverage operators, hoteliers, the NHS, leisure operators, schools, churches and financiers to bring our ideas to life.
“This is an exciting opportunity for the town to provide a town centre for everyone with shops that people want to see and use, restaurants, an eight-screen cinema, a health campus and leisure centre. I look forward to seeing the local community there and receiving feedback on how the town centre is shaping up.”
The Whitehill and Bordon Regeneration Company, based at the Whitehill and Bordon Enterprise Park in Budds Lane, is a joint venture between developers Taylor Wimpey and Dorchester Regeneration. It submitted an outline planning application for the new town centre in 2015.
East Hampshire District Council voted unanimously in favour of the largest planning application it has ever considered. The application will transform Whitehill and Bordon, creating 2,400 new homes, jobs, infrastructure and the new town centre.
The Regeneration Company is focusing its efforts on a 494-acre (200-hectare) area, covering Prince Philip Barracks, the Technical Training Area, Martinique House, the Bordon and Oakhanger Sports Club and the Hogmoor Inclosure.
The site will be regenerated with new shops, offices, restaurants, an anchor food store, a leisure centre and new secondary school.
Full planning consent has been given to the Regeneration Company to convert the 133-acre Hogmoor Inclosure (54 hectares) from Army training land into a Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG), open to the public with footpaths and cycle routes.
Outline planning permission gives developers the go-ahead in broad terms, meaning specific elements of their plans, such as materials and specific layouts, are ironed out later.
The new town centre will be located at the corner of Budds Lane and the A325.
By the time the town centre is built, the A325 will be subject to a number of improvements which will slow down traffic and reduce the number of vehicles passing through the town.
The idea is to create a “shared space”, reducing east-west severance. This will be made possible by the £27million relief road, which is on track to be finished by the summer of next year, taking through traffic away from the new town centre.
The town centre is also set to host a health campus - a collection medical facilities including GP surgeries and clinics.
Whitehill and Bordon is one of 10 places in the country deemed to be a Healthy New Town, with NHS ‘flagship health status’ aimed at creating communities with health and well-being at their heart.
Some residents are concerned that the town’s regeneration will simply turn out to be mass house building. Events like this are the Regeneration Company’s way of showing that it aims to deliver the infrastructure and homes in tandem.
With its garrison history, Bordon has not developed a conventional ‘town centre’, which is why creating one is said to be such an important part of the regeneration.
The consultation is being held on Saturday, February 25, between 10am and 4pm, at Prince Philip Barracks, Building Four, Budds Lane, Bordon.
Those unable to attend the event will be able to view all the information online from the morning of the consultation at whitehillbordonregeneration.co.uk.
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