The chance for Whitehill Town Council to run Hogmoor Inclosure has gone – and leader Cllr Andy Tree is blaming the Conservatives who ran the council until May 2019.

A Whitehill & Bordon Regeneration Company spokesman said the council did not tender for the contract when it was available three years ago.

He added: “WBRC engaged with the town council on the issue between 2017 and 2019 and the council said at the time it was not interested in applying. The contract went to The Land Trust and it is not up for renewal now.

“Indeed, next year The Land Trust will be moving from having a contract to manage it to taking full ownership of it. The town council may be interested now, but it’s just not up for grabs.”

Cllr Tree said: “It would be incredibly disappointing for this to happen, given the town council’s willingness under my leadership to engage with the regeneration company and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation on this matter.

“This whole mess in the first place has been caused by the former Conservative-controlled town council. As a result of their lack of vision in not wanting to express an interest to tender to take on Hogmoor Inclosure, when given the opportunity by the regeneration company, it will be lost to a national organisation instead of potentially being under local control.”