AS The Gazette has said, on many occasions, our town and borough is a great place with even greater potential.

Basingstoke and Deane – but particularly the town centre at the heart of the borough – has made great strides forward in recent years. However, it is vital that this momentum is maintained.

In the past, The Gazette has lamented the frustrating lack of progress with The Malls. This is a key gateway to the town centre but its much-needed makeover has been a long time coming.

The Gazette is pleased to see that the borough council’s leaders have now called on the authority’s Malls partner, specialist developer St Modwen – the majority owner of the shopping complex – to get a move on with the revamp of the area.

Council leader John Leek is right when he says: “We really do need to get our partner St Modwen to play a more active role.

“We are determined to make the central area one which we can take great pride in and attract more and more people there so we have a thriving and very prosperous town.”

On a wider scale, the Conservative Cabinet has just unveiled the draft version of the council plan for 2007 to 2010, and members are inviting comment from the local community.

This plan – which can be viewed on www.basingstoke.gov.uk – will help shape the future of Basingstoke and Deane so The Gazette hopes that residents will scrutinise, and comment on, it before the December 10 deadline.

This is your town, your borough. Your views matter more than anything so please have your say.