A CITY where people take pride in their communities and play a vital role that gives them a sense of belonging.

A place where older people are fully engaged, valued and looked after and where young people want to be involved in the direction of Southampton's future - and do so through good education and employment.

That's some of the aspirations contained in the consultation draft, which also concludes that Southampton will see its population increase by 9,000 people from 224,500 in 2006 to 233,500 in 2026.

In 20 years' time people will be living longer, meaning a predicted five per cent larger older population than the city currently has (14 per cent).

At the other end of the scale the number of children will have reduced - with the predicted number of teenagers aged 16 and under dropping from 18 per cent to 16 per cent.

Among the things needing to be tackled to make people more positive and happy with their lifestyle, says the document, is a reduction in smoking and binge drinking, healthier lifestyles and efforts to lower the teenage pregnancy rate.

In turn, the demand for health services will be dramatically lowered and premature mortality rates reduced - but facilities for those who need support and high quality specialist health care will be readily available and accessible.

Although there will be work to reduce antisocial behaviour through agencies working together, illegal drug use is predicted to remain a problem that will have an influence on crime levels in the city.