Fareham Borough Council has a new leader for the first time in 25 years

Simon Martin, ward councillor for Park Gate since 2016, is set to be nominated, seconded and elected as the new executive leader of Fareham Borough Council as Sean Woodward steps down from the political arena after 38 years and 25 years as leader. Councillor Martin, who has been deputy leader for the last three years, was made leader of the Fareham Conservatives group last week after the elections on May 2, a post also vacated by Cllr Woodward.

Despite more than 500 Conservative councillors losing their seats across England, the party kept control of the borough council despite the Liberal Democrats picking up four seats and Labour one.

Cllr Martin said: “It [the election] wasn’t a close call in the end, we got 22 seats as opposed to 10. We defied the odds because of the quality of the candidates and the work we are doing locally. Thursday (May 16) is mayor-making and the annual general meeting of the council. The executive will be confirmed and chairs and vice chairs of committees. Then the hard work starts again. We have a clear strategy for the borough and we will start the implementation of that going forward.”

ALSO READ: Sean Woodward reveals his 'greatest achievement' in politics

People voted for the Fareham Conservative group to stay because they have a good story to tell locally just by looking at what they have done, he said, reeling off a number of projects the group has spearheaded.

“We have a great track record locally, we keep the council tax reasonably low, we haven’t cut any services,” he added. “We’ve got Daedalus which is developed as a sort of major employment centre. Welborne is going through the construction period. We are trying to tackle the issue of the town centre and develop a regeneration strategy for the whole of Fareham town centre.

“We have Fareham Live, and are trying to put in place a great facility for people to use. We do interact with residents four times a year and think we are present. We are out there talking to people and dealing with the issues that come through.”

ALSO READ: Fareham Borough Council election results

Cllr Martin said his party had focused on canvasing the marginal wards which paid off as now one of three Tory-controlled councils in Hampshire. The other two New Forest and Tess Valley, both of which did not have elections.

With boundary and ward name changes, Fareham Borough Council now has 32 councillors up from 31, across 16 wards up from 15. Cllr Martin said his ward was canvassed with leaflets and information but he only did 35 per cent of knocking on doors whereas he normally likes to get around to do 50 to 60 per cent.

Having come second in his ward of Park Gate with 948 votes to fellow Conservative councillor Ian Bastable who secured 957 votes, he wins a two-year term as a council member before he has to stand for re-election again. Cllr Martin has worked in and lived in Fareham since 1985 and had a career in environmental and waste management.

He said: “I am now partly retired but still working as a consultant and will now be focusing on Fareham Borough Council.”