It is a crucial time for both of the cities in our region this week.

In Southampton and Winchester plans to develop the future vision of the city have reached a stage where decisions taken will have far reaching effects.

As this paper reports, in Winchester it is crunch time for the controversial Silver Hill development that has proved extremely controversial.

The proposal to create a new £150m heart to the city centre has already seen off one administration and the legal machinations ahead of this week’s meetings are convoluted at best.

In Southampton the latest plans to develop the Royal Pier and Mayflower Park waterfront have been unveiled and are now before public scrutiny.

Here nothing less than the soul of the port city is at stake as the development is seen, rightly, to be the long-awaited key to unlock Southampton’s future as a forward-looking world-class destination.

In both cases the wrong decision will be just as decisive as the correct one. Planners and councillors know that they will have only one chance to get this right.

The cities will be blighted if the developments do not suit, but will miss out on future successes if too much timidity is shown for the right opportunity.

In both cases the voices of the people are striving to be heard.

These are indeed exciting times. Whoever would have thought town planning would prove so scintillating?