Council elections 2022: Shops and parking dominate issues for Fareham residents
and live on Freeview channel 276
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.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdResidents 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.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘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.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘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.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe said: ‘It is a bit of a shame that more and more shops are going and being replaced with cafes or a jobcentre.’
Fareham East:
Lydia Brown - Green Party
Tom Davies - Conservative Party
David Hamilton - Liberal Democrats
Gemma Oughton - Labour Party
Fareham North
Pamela Bryant - Conservative Party
David Harrison - Green Party
Sean Schofield - Labour Party
Ciaran Urry-Tuttiett - Liberal Democrats
Jeannie Wigmore - Fareham Independent Group
Fareham North West
David Foot - Conservative Party
Pauline Galea - Liberal Democrats
Andrew Mooney - Labour Party
Kerry Stubbs - Fareham Independent Group
Fareham South
Gemma Furnivall - Labour Party
Stephen Ingram - Conservative Party
Nick Lyle - Green Party
Jim Palmer - Liberal Democrats
Paul Sturgess - Fareham Independent Group
Fareham West
Roger Bird - Conservative Party
Tony Goodridge - Fareham Independent Group
Rowena Palmer - Liberal Democrats
Steve Richards - Reform UK
John Vivian - Green Party
James Webb - Labour Party
Hill Head
Gerry Drabble - Liberal Democrats
Steve Dugan - Conservative Party
Lynee Murray - Labour Party