IT is hard not to be sympathetic to developers who say they will appeal after their plans to create 3,600 jobs on the outskirts of Southampton were turned down by planners.

The fact the councillors making the decision are based in far off Andover does not create an impression of elected officials with the interests of the people of the city at heart.

Indeed councillors in Test Valley who control the land at Adanac Park which abuts Southampton where it meets the M27 and M271 intersection are hardly likely to be concerned about their giant neighbour. They seek to maintain a green belt between the city and the lands they control.

Yet it would undoubtedly be residents from Southampton that would fill the jobs at the giant distribution plants and other developments that are being proposed.

All this, this paper, would say, is yet more grist to the mill for the creation of a Greater Southampton region, one where surrounding borough and district councils are not able to restrict the growth of the great city itself.

Such a proposal, of sorts, is just what the Labour Party have mooted should they be returned to power in the next General Election in fact.

The case for a serious shake up of how we are governed locally to ensure growth and prosperity grows ever stronger.