Eastleigh is set for a multi-million-pound facelift after councillors last night paved the way for the biggest investment package in the town since the railways arrived.

More than 720 homes will be built on three sites in the town and £20m will be ploughed into sport, recreation, schools, cycleways and the environment.

There will also be a £2m makeover of the shopping centre.

The massive proposed sweeping changes will go out to public consultation in the spring before being included in Eastleigh's draft local plan, which will steer development in the borough until 2011.

Liberal Democrat council leader Keith House said: "It is the biggest investment in Eastleigh since the coming of the railways more than 100 years ago."

He maintained they were saving the countryside by not putting major development in greenfields.

But Conservative councillor Colin Davidovitz warned that unless the move was given the blessing of the strategic planning authority greenfield sites throughout the borough would be at risk.

Labour councillor Bill Luffman spoke of the extra traffic from the new development that would be unleashed on the town centre roads.

He said: "We are going to fill up the roads with cars. The way it is going we will not be able to move."

And the ageing Chandler's Ford Shopping Precinct could be set for a desperately needed facelift.

It has been earmarked for major improvements as planners draw up the blueprint for the borough's future.

Talks are already under way with local developers to re-shape the precinct's future.

And a redevelopment project for the prime site could be completed within five years.

Local area committee chairman Councillor Godfrey Olson believed that it was a wonderful opportunity to improve this important part of Chandler's Ford.

He said: "The area around the shopping precinct is at the heart of the old village and particularly so important with the nearby Chandler's Ford railway station re-opening next May."