SOUTHAMPTON 2020 means two separate, yet equally important, priorities from my perspective.

Firstly, how Southampton will look. We have big plans for the city over the next few years.

Our other priority is for its people – those who live, work and visit our city – what they need and want, from affordable housing, decent jobs and the lifestyle of living in an ocean-front city.

Watermark WestQuay, with its entertainment complex of a cinema, bars, restaurants and most importantly the high quality public space, is at the forefront.

We want to make the area a place that people will want to visit – to spend time in. That will then be followed by the residential tower and ancillary shopping.

It will flow into the Royal Pier development, and my vision is that we will build a footbridge out from Watermark WestQuay into the new Mayflower Park, with its giant Spitfire statue. That will, in turn, link the waterfront to the city centre for the first time in an accessible way.

These plans can create a strong weekend visitor market so people can come and visit our excellent museums and galleries, take in a show at the Mayflower, go the Arts Complex and enjoy the best shopping in the south.

We would also like to see large redevelopment on the Itchen Waterfront – if Associated British Ports lease the Marchwood Military Port then this will free up significant space on the main port.

Our plan for the area between Ocean Village and the Meridian site is for more than 4,000 new homes and new business, while providing significant public access to the waterfront for the first time in modern history. By signing deals with developers at the planning stage we have secured 500 jobs and 100 apprenticeships for local people at developments like IKEA and WestQuay and we will continue this for future schemes. Developers who want to build in our city must make sure that some of the jobs are for local people. We have also secured funding via the City Deal to ensure that local people have the education and skills to get access to the jobs that are being created.

As part of our commitment to the people of Southampton, we will strive to ensure that local people are properly paid.

The council will adopt the Living Wage. We expect our partners – Capita, Southern Electric and Balfour Beatty – to do likewise.

We will encourage employers around the city to follow suit. It is not acceptable that the average wage in Southampton is not enough to buy a property, so we need to ensure that Southampton homes are affordable.

We are committed to building affordable homes. Next year, more than 350 will be completed and we are planning for many more.

We are also investing in extra care housing which will allow elderly people to live independently for longer.