Eastleigh civic chiefs have been warned that they cannot be complacent if the booming borough is to sustain its prosperity.

Speaking to the borough council meeting, Margaret Kyrle said over recent years Eastleigh had been an economic success story benefiting from south Hampshire's fastest business growth rate and high rankings in national business surveys.

Unemployment continued to fall with 535 people currently registered as without jobs - a rate of just under one per cent - while the employment rate in the borough was relatively high with 82 per cent of the working age population in jobs. But the executive councillor with responsibility for prosperity warned that national events such as job losses in the car industry at Luton and locally announced redundancies highlighted the need not to sit back.

Recently-published figures also showed a marked slowing in the growth of the local business community.

She said: "To improve business sustainability, the council is undertaking a comprehensive survey of the borough's business community with over 1,700 local companies being asked about factors affecting the performance of their firms."