A VISION of how Eastleigh could develop over the next two decades is at the heart of the borough's first community plan.

Over the last 18 months the council has been working with local organisations to draw up the blueprint.

Eastleigh set up its own strategic partnership two years ago in response to prompting from Whitehall and the next step was a community plan focusing on the next ten to 20 years. It started with a community plan event at the end of 2002 and the draft plan went out for public consultation in January 2004.

Themes covered include community safety, health, housing, employment, environment, leisure, lifelong learning and transport. Each section sets outs aims for improvement and ways of getting there.

The draft plan was sent to the Campaign for Real English to remove jargon and make the document as user-friendly as possible.

The document will be on the web and a four-page version will be landing on doormats at every house in the borough later this year.

Council leader Keith House, who chairs the strategic partnership, says it was easy to predict more housing, more cars and more pressure on services and the environment over the next 20 years.

But the plan was also about the changing age structure of the population and ensuring that today's residents did not compromise the future for their children.

Councillor House said: "There are many competing demands in our communities. Through this plan we seek to understand these demands and balance them for the good of the whole community."