Eastleigh is "tantalisingly close" to tying up a stunning new cinema and leisure development which is set to revolutionise the town centre.

Borough council leader Keith House says that the multi-million-pound project should precede further retail development and expansion in High Street and Market Street.

It was expected that details of the project - which is likely to include an eight-screen multiplex cinema, casino, hotel and gym built alongside the town's showpiece Swan covered shopping centre - would be announced in May with Cordwell Leisure Developments submitting a planning application to the borough council.

Cordwell - which has been responsible for urban renaissance and regeneration leisure development in Birmingham and Manchester - was named as "preferred development partner " for the Swan Centre scheme by Eastleigh Council and Prudential Property Investment Managers last December.

But Cllr House has revealed that a "somewhat bigger" scheme is now being looked at and is the reason for taking extra time to reveal details of the project.

He said: "The proposals are coming together very well with interest and commitment from both cinema and other leisure operators. We are now looking at additional elements of the scheme, which for commercial reasons have to remain under wraps for the time being. It does mean that it is taking a little bit longer."

He added: "I am pretty confident that when we have got the full scheme together the reaction from Eastleigh people will be: 'Wow! That is coming to Eastleigh?'"

The council chief said complex property development was bound to take time to put together.

But he stressed: "It is moving along. Things are happening on a week by week and day by day basis.

"Cordwell and a whole range of other partners are certainly doing the business."