"THERE is a real buzz about the borough at the moment.

Waitrose and John Lewis are planning to set up only their second combined store in the country here, Network Rail has chosen us for their strategic hub, Airkix is drawing in visitors from across the country, and next year, Laverstoke Mill opens its doors as the UK headquarters of the Bombay Sapphire brand.

Economic growth is the key to our future, bringing with it the prosperity that will enable the area to build and sustain the top flight shopping, sports and leisure facilities that we all want to enjoy and the new infrastructure we need to ensure this remains a place where people really want to live and work.

Each 200 new jobs created here add roughly £11million a year to the local economy.

We have lots of natural advantages, not least our location in easy reach of London, Heathrow and the south coast ports and the beautiful countryside of the borough.

Over the coming months, we will see really exciting new plans for the town centre, for the Top of The Town, for Basing View and for the leisure park – all this alongside the emerging Local Plan laying out where and how new housing and infrastructure will be provided.

There will be a great deal to make Basingstoke and Deane the place to do business.

But this is a competitive world and there are plenty of other places around us also looking for growth.

We need to ensure that the benefits of Basingstoke are firmly top of the mind of decision-makers when it comes to locating new businesses or planning inward investment. We cannot just rely on word of mouth.

That is why, as a council, we are planning to invest a minimum of £500,000 over the next four years in marketing the borough to businesses.

This is money over and above that to be spent by our various business partners in our development projects.

We are enjoying now what was put in place 20, 30 or 40 years or more ago. We owe it to our children, and those to follow, to invest in the future prosperity of the borough now.

I am determined that Basingstoke and Deane will be seen as a serious player in the economic growth of the country, so that the residents of our borough can gain the benefit."

Cllr Clive Sanders