Councillor Kirsten Wiltshire - Lib Dem Fareham Town

🎉 Fareham’s Big Weekend is nearly here! 🎉

If you’re looking for something to do, head into Fareham Town Centre on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July.

There’ll be live entertainment, family activities, local stalls, community groups and plenty happening across the town centre throughout the weekend. ☀️

It’s a great opportunity to support local businesses, discover local organisations and enjoy everything our town centre has to offer.

📅 Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th July

🕙 10am to 4pm

📍 Fareham Town Centre

More information and the full timetable can be found here:

Fareham’s Big Weekend

Hope to see lots of familiar faces there! 👋🏼

➡️ Latest news - Fareham Borough Council launches Active Travel Consultation

As part of its Town Centre Regeneration plans, Fareham Borough Council has today launched an Active Travel Consultation, seeking local people’s views on the barriers preventing them from walking, cycling or wheeling into and around the town centre.

The Council is working in partnership with Ethos Consultants to deliver this six-week consultation, which will now run until 22 July, giving residents, businesses, and visitors the opportunity to share their experiences.

The Active Travel Consultation will focus on understanding what prevents people from walking, cycling or wheeling (using a mobility scooter or wheelchair) into the town centre. Feedback gathered will help shape proposals for improvements that make active travel safer, easier and more attractive, encouraging more people to choose healthier and more sustainable ways to get around.

Find a link to the consultation in the comments 👇️

There will also be some in-person engagement opportunities, ensuring a broad and representative range of views is captured. These include:

• Monday 15th June – Fareham Leisure Centre, 2pm–4pm
• Tuesday 16th June – The Courtyard (FSC), 11am–2pm
• Thursday 18th June – The Courtyard, 10am–1pm
• Saturday 20th June – 999 Day, 10am–2pm

Paper copies of the consultation can be requested at the Civic Offices in Fareham.

Councillor Surgery Update 📚☕

Cllr David Hamilton and I held our latest surgery at Fareham Library today, and one topic came up again that won’t surprise many of you…

🕳️ The High Street crater!

I’ve posted about this before and even made a video highlighting the issue, but residents are still rightly raising concerns about the state of this section of the High Street. It’s far beyond a simple pothole and is becoming a real nuisance for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians alike. We’ll continue pushing for a proper repair rather than another temporary patch-up.

Alongside that, we dealt with a variety of general council enquiries and local issues, and it was lovely to meet residents who stopped by to say hello and share their congratulations following the recent elections.

These surgeries are one of the best parts of the role. They give us the chance to hear directly from residents about what matters most to them and ensure local concerns are being heard.

Thank you to everyone who came along today. If you couldn’t make it but have something you’d like to discuss, please get in touch.

Cllr Kirsten Wiltshire & Cllr David Hamilton
Lib Dem Fareham Town 🔶💛

What do councillors do at the weekend? We still answer queries and help people of course but in between we enjoy time with family and support local businesses, and we thoroughly enjoyed the sharing roast at Orange Grove, Coldeast. Best roast we’ve ever had out 💯

*additional update* Council quick to clear and clean!

A quick update on the fly-tipping near the Autism Shop in Fareham Town Centre.

The good news is that it’s already been reported and should be cleared shortly, if it hasn’t been removed already.

A big thank you to Katrina, who sent me the photos so I could get it reported and chased up, even while I’m currently 270 miles away enjoying a glamping break in Blackpool! 🏕️

No need to submit additional reports on this one, save yourself the paperwork. 😊

As always, thank you to everyone who keeps an eye out and lets me know when things aren’t quite as they should be. Teamwork makes local problems much easier to sort!

These photos of Kiln Road really stopped me in my tracks today.

The first image from 2018 shows a substantial mature hedgerow running along the road. The second shows what remains after recent clearance works linked to development nearby.

Residents are understandably asking serious questions about the loss of ancient and established hedgerows across Fareham during nesting season, including at Kiln Road, the A32 Wickham Road and Seafield Road.

Hedgerows are not just “bushes”. They are established ecosystems supporting nesting birds, pollinators, wildlife corridors, flood mitigation and the character of our local landscape. Once lost, they cannot simply be replaced overnight with a few new saplings.

Developers state ecologists were present during the works. If so, there should be clear ecological assessments and evidence behind these decisions. I think residents are entirely reasonable in asking for greater transparency and stronger protections going forward.

I will now be looking at whether Fareham Borough Council can explore stronger local protections for important hedgerows, similar in principle to Tree Preservation Orders for significant trees. 🌿

(Photos are not mine. Full credit and thanks to the original photographers.)

Spent this evening meeting with the new Reform county councillor Richard Harris, alongside Cllr Gemma Furnivall.

Whatever our political differences, I’ve always believed residents are best served when councillors can sit down, talk honestly and try to work together where we can. Politics doesn’t have to be a gladiator arena 24/7 🏛️

We discussed some of the biggest issues residents raise with us locally, including potholes, permit parking, antisocial driving and speeding, particularly around schools, alongside a few more specific local concerns affecting our communities.

Richard was very personable and seemed genuinely open to collaboration regardless of party politics, which was encouraging to hear. As always, the proof will be in the pudding, but I remain hopeful until proven otherwise.

And credit to Gemma for organising the meeting. Despite sitting on opposite political benches at Fareham Borough Council, we’ve always had a good working relationship and that matters more than party point scoring when it comes to getting things done for local people 🙌🏼

🚨 BREAKING 🚨

Dame Trott has been caught conducting “top-secret tactical analysis” ahead of this year’s at The Kings Theatre, Portsmouth.

Equipped with binoculars, a floral handbag and enough toilet roll to survive a Championship away day, she insists she was “simply observing from a public place.”

Witnesses say the operation began to unravel when crowds started shouting:
“IT’S BEHIND YOU!”

Unfortunately, they weren’t warning her about security…
They were trying to explain how hiding behind a tree actually works.