Fire Station South Site Consultation Report

Public Consultation Report: Open Spaces next to the Fire Station, Camp Road, Bordon Last modified: February 2012

Index 1 Introduction

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2 Sites

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3 Engagement format

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4 Survey Findings and Analysis

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5 Next Actions

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6 Appendix

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2 Public Consultation Report: Open Spaces next to the Fire Station, Camp Road, Bordon

1. Introduction The town of Whitehill Bordon was designated by government as an Eco-town in 2009. Since that time a number of demonstration projects have been initiated. One project is the Fire Station site. This project has combined two land ownerships, East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in order to develop a series of projects to demonstrate the potential of the site. The whole site is now in EHDC ownership and EHDC is managing the refurbishment of the old Fire Station as well as the construction of a number of demonstration projects within the grounds.

Open Space West SiteSite- Reconsideration of role and future use of this existing green space.

Open Space South SiteSite- Reconsideration of role and future use of this existing green space.

This consultation was intended for these two open spaces on the site.

The Projects are: EcoEco-stationtation- Fire Station conversion to Eco-station information centre, exhibition space, lecture theatre, offices, meeting rooms, local history and biodiversity interpretation and there may also be a cafĂŠ and/or library.

Exhibition HouseHouse- A two bedroom detached house will demonstrate different eco features.

EcoEco-terraceerrace- An international design competition for a small terrace of zero carbon houses.

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2. Sites Open space West Site The open space to the rear of the Fire Station site at Camp Road, Bordon is approximately 550m2. Access to the open space is only possible from Station Road.

The existing houses backing onto the site (from Loweswater Road) have close boarded fencing facing the open space on its westerly boundary and there is a 2m rusty chain link fence with barbed wire at a high level to the Fire Station site boundary.

As a part of the consultation, it was proposed that EHDC would remove the chain link fence between the Fire Station site and the open space and replace it with new fencing with lockable gates from each new terraced house into the open space.

Furthermore, the council would like to install a railing along the front of the open space on Station Road with a gate, not only to provide greater security to the new terraced houses but to create a safer amenity space for surrounding residents.

use of the Exhibition House. Whilst the mature trees to the front of the open space will be retained, there is an opportunity to provide an area for growing vegetables and fruit trees to the rear of this space once residents are occupying the new houses.

Open Space South Site The south site is in the Council’s ownership and has several mature trees. Whitehill Bordon Eco-town is proposing to make improvements to the open space as a part of the Fire Station site refurbishment and Exhibition site as a demonstration project. The landscape design for the south site had received input from the key stakeholders previously at the site visit on 18th May and Design & Sustainability Review Meeting in April 2011. The revised design proposal was circulated to all key stakeholders.

Several methods of engagement were used to ensure as many people as posible were involved.

EHDC would like to include the narrowest part of the open space as part of the garden space for the Exhibition House, bringing this space into better use, transferring this corner of open space to the future

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3. Engagement Format The exhibition boards were displayed at the Fire Station until the end of the consultation period. The team members were available on Mon-Wed- Thu between 10 AM- 5 PM to ensure any queries are answered. There were also feedback forms and signin sheet to record attendance.

The lead consultant and project officers were available on Friday 23rd September between 2 pm7:30 pm and Saturday 24th September 10 am- 2 pm.

Email invitations were sent to all stakeholders on the project database, residents, and local ward members and included in the e-newsletter and publicised on the Eco-town website.

The proposals were discussed at the Whitehill Town Council Eco-town meeting on 5th September. The Chairman of the Town Council encouraged all councillors to complete online questionnaire or hard copy of the feedback forms. Qualitative comments were noted by the landscape architects on various aspects of the detailed design during the discussion.

Statutory stakeholders and residents were notified through a public notice in two local newspapers about the consultation three weeks in advance and for two consecutive weeks.

It was considered that the most affected users as a result of changes to the landscape design of the open space would be adjoining residents. A much wider area than usual planning application consultation zone was drawn out and as many as 300 property addresses were sent individual letters inviting them to the consultation.

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4. Survey Findings and Analysis There were a number of comments received and in total 18 feedback forms were submitted. There was more interest from the adjoining residents than the wider town. But very few of them use the existing open spaces. Out of the 18 respondents, only 42 % use either of the two open spaces. All respondents were from the GU35 postcode.

Those who responded mostly supported the proposal to protect and enhance wildlife, increase the biodiversity of these spaces, clear the shrub and include new paths. The response on whether the Open Space South should be more open or enclosed (as existing) along the Camp Road boundary was more mixed with safety concerns.

In conclusion, all proposed changes were supported in principle.

Design response The landscape architects, Chris Blandford Associates have prepared the revised outline design for the south site taking on board design priorities as identified by the survey responses.

On the Open Space West Side, the outline design is revised and included in the terrace competition brief.

There is no major design revisions expected on both design proposals and the consultation responses were broadly supportive of the landscape proposals.

On the South Site, the highest priority is to removal of rubbish and the second priority is to improve lighting. Other priorities were litter bins / dog bins, bird feeding stations and bird boxes.

More than 50 % of respondents supported the idea of using the Open Space to the West because if it felt safer to use and could be used to grow food.

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5. Next Steps There is scope to deliver some improvements to the south site prior to the opening of the Eco-station and Exhibition House. Based on the outline design proposal and costing prepared by the landscape architects, the delivery timescale for the landscape improvements will be reviewed.

will be informed by the design of the residential units proposed on the site. Further information on the outcome of the competition and progress of design is expected by spring 2012.

The scale and nature of the proposed landscape improvements may not require planning consent but any works will need notifying stakeholders, adjoining landowners and a statutory notice prior to carrying out any works on the District Council owned land.

Implementation of the project will need early consultation with the council’s planning officers, arboricutural officer, contracts monitoring officers and county council Highways Department.

Whitehill Town Council and local members should also be kept informed if the works are progressed to the next stage.

The open space to the west of the Fire Station will be managed by the terrace competition project. The future design and implementation for improvements

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6. Appendix 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0

Copy of the notice published in the local newspaper Exhibition boards Sample survey form, about you forms Sample invitation letter and flyer Survey summary graphs Detailed responses Revised design layout for the south site

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