WHAT would you do first if you were in charge of Basingstoke? We asked this question on our Facebook page and received hundreds of answers from our readers.

Some were genuine suggestions, whilst others were a little bit more light-hearted, here are a few of our favourites.

Lionel Evemy is all for more entertainment, he said: "Bring back the fair and procession, that was a great week of Entertainment, and bring back the nightclub, Martines!"

A strong three-point plan from Teresa Johnstone: "1. Bring back the balloon festival. 2. Repair potholes (no point in patching them up, they need doing properly) 3. Lower rents in Festival Place. Better to do that and fill all the shops than just leave them boarded up, surely?"

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Mark Josey has thought of a unique way to fill the vacant units in Festival Place: "Firstly take over Festival Place and then fill each empty shop with a kebab shop, nail bars, vape shops and Turkish barbers."

David Graham's interests lay with our local sports teams: "Build a new or replacement football stadium for the Camrose and get the Ice Rink fully operational again."

It seems that Ray Skeates has ulterior motives: "Replace Festival Place with blocks of flats. Then wait for my spot in the House of Lords."

Nigel Power kept his policy short and sweet: "Free parking in town."

We detect a slight bit of sarcasm from Dan Hay: "Definitely need some more barber shops, in particular Turkish ones, vape shops, and pawnbrokers where I can get 10p for a DVD and PS5 game, oh yes there are definitely not enough coffee shops around so I would add those as well. Hey even build a new shopping centre full of empty shops as well!"

Another three-point plan was suggested, this time from James Eames: "Bring back the carnival. Lose the speed ramps on Pack Lane. Put a sports bar and TGI Fridays in where Toys R Us used to be."

Lisa Ashton has an idea we think many can get behind: "Get rid of paying for parking at the hospital, especially for staff!"

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An environmental suggestion came from Nicola Kimber: "Stop building on fields and preserve old buildings."

We like how Andrew John Summersgill clearly has his priorities right: "Build a massive wall around the whole town with guard towers pointing outwards, missile defences internally, and raise an army to conquer the world. And reopen Toys R Us."

What would you do first if you had absolute power over Basingstoke? Let us know in the comments.