Declining retail scene and vacant shops top the agenda for voters
Town centre and roads are among prime concerns
RESIDENTS across Fareham will cast their votes for the local elections on May 5.
Fareham Borough Council is made up of 31 councillors, currently comprising 23 Conservatives, five Liberal Democrats and three independents.
All wards in Fareham have two councillors except for Portchester East which has three. This year candidates will compete for 16 seats available in 15 wards.
Residents in Fareham have shared their thoughts about local issues along with national scandals that have dominated political discourse across the country.
Gorden Cohen, 42, said: ‘The way things have been going over this period, the last few years, Boris and all that with the parties, it just got to me like a lot of other people — some people say forget about it but why should we?
‘They [the council] don’t do too bad a job in Fareham I must admit, they’ve been here for so many years, but if Labour was in it would most likely be the same.
Les Hallat, 56, said the council should do a better job with the roads and pavements calling them ‘terrible’ while sharing concerns about the retail sector.
‘They’re not supporting the shops, Gosport has become a ghost town and this will become a ghost town because their overheads are too high,’ he said.
‘There’s so many shops gone there — it’s not encouraging people to come here, it's pushing people away — people go to Portsmouth and Gunwharf.’
The state of the high street and shopping centre has been a major concern for many residents.
Alan Davey, 85, said: ‘I’d like to see them do something in the shopping centre, because I went in there the other day and I counted 14 shops empty, I'm sure there’s a lot more.
‘I understand they’ve just put up parking which again won’t encourage people to come in shopping.’
Cherry Cheetham, 83, added: ‘I think the shops are one thing, we’ve had so many places closing down.
'You come down here and there’s not a lot to look at, we’ve lost so many shops, especially the big ones.'
Phillip Elston, 63 said he he would like to see more cycle lanes as well as getting more shoppers in the high street.
He said: ‘It is a bit of a shame that more and more shops are going and being replaced with cafes or a jobcentre.’