"WE'VE BEEN forgotten!" This is the angry consensus amongst Fareham's West Street shopkeepers, who are fed-up because council chiefs have neglected their end of the town for too long.

The group are sceptical over council promises that their area would be next in line for a spruce up. It is a pledge made by deputy council leader and executive member for planning and transportation, Councillor Arthur Mandry, only last week.

Councillor Mandry said nothing could be done to the area that stretches between the post office and the Aldi supermarket until the final decision on the Light Railway Transit system had been decided.

However shopkeepers say they find it hard to believe the authority will come up with the goods when the focus is on other town centre developments including Market Quay and Fareham Shopping Centre.

Michael Payne, of family-run jewellers, B'Dazzled, said he did not believe promises made by Councillor Mandry to give the area a face-lift.

He said: "People don't come down here even though there are some great little specialist shops. There is nowhere for them to park. We are only surviving through word of mouth. It's a nightmare."

Manager of Davis World Travel, Neville Westerman, 53, said: "A lot of us feel that we have been forgotten. This branch of our shop has been here since 1957 and still we get people coming in who never even knew we were here."

Last week Councillor Mandry told the Daily Echo that is was not a question of "if" but "when" the area would get a makeover.

He said that a public consultation, held earlier in the year highlighted the demand for improvements to the environment, including footways, individual shop fronts, traffic generation and most importantly - parking.

But Councillor Mandry said: "They are not at the last of the queue. "There is no point in doing anything until the tram situation is certain. We are still waiting on that and it would have been a waste of money to start work before. We will be holding a meeting with traders to talk about what can be done in the near future."