PLANNERS are busy working on a draft brief for one of the south's biggest redevelopment projects - and it should be available for public inspection after Easter.

Regional development agency SEEDA bought the £15m site from shipbuilder and support services group VT last March in a bid to breathe new life to the former 31-acre shipyard.

SEEDA, English Partnerships and Southampton City Council will work together with the community to create a high-quality development.

The development will include:

employment opportunities

homes

shops and restaurants

leisure facilities

waterfront access

open space

A spokesman for the City Council's economic team said: "A draft planning brief for the site is currently being prepared with the city council.

"This will be available for the public to see and comment on after Easter.

The planning brief will include the master plan for the site.

"It is anticipated that an outline planning application will be submitted in autumn 2004."

The overall master planners and architects for the site are the Richard Rogers Partnership, the brains behind London's Millennium Dome and the Welsh National Assembly.

Other consultants are Drivers Jonas, providing a wide range of expertise from surveying to town planning, Campbell Reith Hill, specialising in advising on the environment, and Alan Baxter & Associates, dealing with transport issues.

For more details on the site, contact Richard Smith, the council's city development manager, on 023 8083 2588.