Everyone has a part to play...here’s your chance to help shape the borough’s future!

Your views are invited to assist in setting the direction of the borough’s planning policies for the next 20 years. They will also help to identify the issues that local organisations should work together on over the next 5 years to improve the quality of life for all who live, work or spend time in the borough.

Why a consultation?

Your help is needed with a consultation being carried out jointly by the Eastleigh Strategic Partnership and Eastleigh Borough Council. The purpose of this consultation is to get the views of local people on what should be the priorities amongst all the issues that need to be included in the Core Strategy and the Community Plan.

There is a consultation document to support the questionnaire. It explains how the issues were identified and gives more facts and figures.

Fill in the full questionnaire and win a prize!

The first page of the questionnaire enables you to just tell us what you think the main issues and priorities are without having to complete it all.

• Questionnaire - Our Community, Our Future

As soon as the consultation ends on 10 November we will randomly select 3 people who have completed at least part of the full questionnaire and give them each a £25 grocery voucher to spend in a shop of their choice in the borough.

• Our Community, Our Future   pdf   - Core Strategy and Community Plan

• Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report for Core Strategy

Why a Core Strategy?

The Core Strategy is a plan which outlines how the council proposes land is used in the borough over the next 20 years. The Government’s South-East Plan will tell us how much housing we must provide and how many new jobs will be needed. The Core Strategy will identify broadly where those homes and jobs should be provided. It will also identify what other space will be required to meet other community needs.

Why a Community Plan?

If you are travelling to somewhere new, it helps to have a clear idea of what you hope to find there as well as a map to find your way. The Community Plan does this for the borough as it travels into the future. The plan sets out an overall vision of what local people would like to see and experience in the future, along with a framework for the actions of local groups and organisations as they work together to make that vision a reality. The Community Plan is overseen by the Eastleigh Strategic Partnership w which brings together the business,voluntary, community, and government organisations that serve the borough and its residents. The partnership’s core members are Eastleigh Borough Council, Hampshire Constabulary, Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Primary Care Trust, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, and One Community. Most areas in England now have a community plan. The government refers to these plans as “sustainable community strategies”. It does this to stress the importance of creating “sustainable communities”, which are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. The community plan for the borough really matters. It will influence the actions and spending decisions of local organisations as they strive to create a borough that current and future generations feel happy living and working in.

What you say matters

In the 2003 community plan consultation, people said that they wanted improvements around employment and learning, transport, housing, safety, health and wellbeing,sports, arts and the environment.  Below are just a few of the things that have happened:

• Employment – courses to improve skills particularly for older people and women coming back to work. European funding to support new businesses
• Housing – hundreds more affordable homes
• Safety – overall reduction of crime rate by focus on crime hotspots, diversion of young people away from crime; graffiti removal, tackling underage drinking
• Health and wellbeing– initiatives to reduce smoking, obesity, heart disease and strokes, skin cancer and accidents in the home
• Sports – major increase in sports availability through improving and using school facilities
• Arts – increase in dance and arts classes and support for youth theatre 
• Environment – big increases in recycling rates, and new recycling for glass, batteries and food waste.

Need more information?

You can find out more about the consultation and discuss the issues at these exhibitions:

• Dovetail Centre, Chandler’s Ford Thursday 2nd October 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm
• West End Parish Centre Friday 3rd October 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm
• The Point, Eastleigh Wednesday 8th October 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm
• Village Hall, Bursledon Thursday 9th October 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm
• Bishopstoke Community Centre Friday 10th October 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm
• Botley Centre, Botley Monday 13th October 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm
• 2000 Centre, Hedge End Friday 17th October 5.00 pm - 8.00 pm
• Hamble Memorial Hall, Hamble-le-Rice Thursday 23rd October 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm
• Drummond Centre, Hedge End Tuesday 28th October 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm
• Fair Oak Village Hall, Fair Oak Wednesday 29th October 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm
• Abbey Hall, Netley Thursday 30th October 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm

Email -  localplan@eastleigh.gov.uk