Everyday Stories
2025 - A DAY OF MY LIFE IN BORDON ECO-TOWN
The 44 ton hopper truck delivering Norwegian wood chips to the incinerator woke me as usual at 6.05, rattling the 6th floor triple glazed windows of the flat, the other side of which overlooked the grassed expanse of Cowper Peoples Park, where Hogmoor Inclosure had been. The first of the day’s mammoth procession along Hogmoor Road. Rolling out of bed, I stumbled towards the shower. Three minutes would be all I could allow this morning. The end of the quarter was near and the smart meter was saying my quota is nearly up. A gallon over, my water charges would double and the bank would levy a penalty for exceeding my overdraft limit. The girls would have to get up now and shower with me for the next 5 days. First I would tell them not to flush the toilet until we had all done our business.
Milk was out, so no breakfast cereal. Hadn’t managed to fit a half gallon into the two bags I’d had to carry home in the rain from the Tesco hypermarket yesterday. The free bus hadn’t turned up and using the car was unthinkable, even if it were roadworthy, with the four pound per mile charge to drive in town. Just getting it to the service garage in Farnham would bring on the ten pound electronic cordon charge, taken automatically from my account.
Ever since Tesco had been allowed to double their floorspace, the last remaining independent shops had closed down. Seeing my neighbours all wearing identical Tesco clothes reminded me of those images of Chinese workers in their blue uniforms long ago. Made the girls some toast, with black tea.
The lift was kaput again, so I walked down the six flights, stopping at the cycle store to make sure the girls’ bikes were still chained and in one piece. Getting them to the new school on the other side of town was no joke in winter fog on the Hollywater Road with the Liphook Link double decker behind, threatening to run them into the ditch. It was only a matter of time until someone would be killed before the road would be widened, traffic would worsen, and the cycle would repeat itself.
Getting to my job as a classroom technician at Alton College for 8.45 was like Russian roulette. Most days the hourly bus in that direction was full with people who could not afford cordon charges, even if they shared. Dodgy taxis cruised slowly past the bus stop, but anyone who had been fleeced once knew better than to flag one. A man on a motor scooter looked furtively around before stopping to take a waiting worker on the pillion for a couple of quid. I could have risked the B3004 lorry traffic to and from Basingstoke and cycled the 7 miles in the darkness and rain, but I had a streaming cold and wasn’t ready to battle pneumonia.
Work was enjoyable and a relief from eco-hell but evening finally came. I’d forgotten that the bus drivers’ strike had started but luckily hitched a ride with a lorry as far as the A325 where it meets Station Road, still with no chance to stop for milk.
Gasping at the top of the stairs, I turned the key in the door. Molly, in her bathrobe, looked up at me with sad eyes. Soaked to the skin on the way home by the splash from a passing bus, Kathy had got her into a hot bath to warm up. I sighed, silently thanking the stars that she was all right, then turned to see what there was for tea, imagining the smart meter and overdraft charges clocking up in my dreams.
Janet and John Stories 1 - traffic
Janet and John talk about traffic.
John is using his new computer to visit East Hampshire District Council’s web site. He tells Janet all about the lovely coloured drawings showing the council’s proposals for doubling the size of Whitehill and Bordon to make it the largest town in East Hampshire by building 5,500 more houses there.
Janet frowns. Why do they want to do that where the bus services and the roads are really poor and there is no railway station?
John looks puzzled, he hadn’t thought of that. Have you thought about that? Janet has.
Where will all the additional traffic go she asks John? Janet thinks that people in Wrecclesham, Liphook, Headley and other places where traffic is bad already will be even more worried. Are you worried about the traffic impact on your community? Janet is.
John says that the council has lots really clever ideas to get people out of their cars, like allowing only half the parking spaces at the new houses, building some footpaths running lots of shiny new buses. People can walk and cycle and use the shiny buses to go shopping and to go to work instead. The council says that after the new houses and offices have been built, most traffic will disappear.
Janet’s face turns red. "How many council workers use the bus to get to their offices in Penns Place?" she asks. "Their huge car park is full. Why should buses suddenly become so attractive in Bordon? Bus services have been steadily withdrawn because very few people used them? Does the council think that tradesmen, contractors, painters, decorators, builders and plumbers will get their ladders on the buses John?"
Janet is so angry. John's knees start to shake. He wishes he had never told Janet about the new town. "Er", he croaks, "the council says that they are going to create over 5,000 jobs in Whitehill and Bordon and that will mean that people will be able to walk and cycle to their new jobs."
Janet shakes with rage. "When did the council last create a new job? If they can’t do it in places like Liphook, smack on the A3 and with a main line railway station, how will they do it at Bordon?"
John tells Janet that the council know what they are doing. Janet marches over to John, rips his dongle out of its socket and sends him to his room. "Know what they are doing?", she shouts after him. "The cat knows more about planning than the council." She picks up the cat and throws him after John.
Poor Tiddles, poor John.
Do you think Tiddles knows more about planning than the council does? Janet does. So do John and Tiddles now.
Janet and John 2 - shopping
John has been reading all about the council’s proposals to regenerate Bordon and Whitehill by providing 30,000 sq metres of shopping in the new shopping centre in the town. That's about 15 Tescos worth.
"Look Janet, there are lots of lovely pictures of pretty market stalls and people chatting outside coffee shops in the new piazza they are going to build there."
Have you seen the pictures? John has.
Janet asks John why the town needs a new shopping centre when they already have the Forest Centre with its brand new Wilkinson store with the Coop, Lidl and Tesco nearby on the High Street.
John says that the council doesn’t want the Forest Centre any more because it’s run down and the new centre will be much nicer.
Janet says "That's a strange way to regenerate a town centre- abandon what's already there and start over elsewhere? And why is the new one so big?" she asks John?
"The council thinks the new centre will draw shoppers from further away, like Milland, Liphook, Grayshott and all the villages around the town," he says.
Janet glares menacingly at John. "And what does the council say is going to happen to all the local shops in the villages?" she asks. "How will people get there? On their bicycles six abreast down the A325 with roads not full of cars and lorries?"
John hadn’t thought of that. Had you thought of that? Janet has.
John says "The council’s advisors wanted a smaller shopping centre, only half that size. Perhaps the council has made a mistake, Janet."
"They certainly have, " says Janet. "I'm going down to their offices to tell them how big a mistake they are making. Driving, not cycling all the way to Petersfield.
John stays in his room and shreds all the propaganda about the eco-town.
Will you be telling the council what a big mistake they are making? Janet will.
Janet and John 3 - consultation
John is reading a leaflet telling people about the consultations which the council has held in the town. Janet is busy doing the ironing and asks John what it says.
"Well Janet, it says that there is overwhelming support from the local community to build the additional 5,500 houses in the proposed eco-town."
Janet is surprised. Are you surprised that there is overwhelming support for an additional 5,500 homes? Janet is.
"Who wrote the leaflet?" asks Janet. "The council," replies John. "It says that a Mori Poll carried out by the council showed 77% of the population in favour."
Janet stops John. "But I found out that Mori poll was ever done."
"Well," says John, "the leaflet also says that 68% of people voted for the eco-town in 2007.
Again Janet stops John. "But only 130 people attended that meeting and no numbers were mentioned, just whether we should have a greener town."
John smells a shirt singeing under the iron.
"Anyway," he says, oblivious to Janet’s anger, "the council says that the December 2009 consultation revealed slightly more support than opposition, so that’s that Janet!"
"But there were 197 votes in support and 200 against the scheme. How is that “marginally more support?” she asks John.
The ironing board begins to smoulder, as does Janet.
John sees Janet is angry, she doesn’t believe the council. Are you angry? Do you believe the council?
John legs it to his room to avoid a painful encounter with a hot iron. Smoke billows from the ironing board, the smoke alarm screeches. Janet wishes she could give the Council leaders a painful encounter with a hot iron.