Or if you would prefer to read through some of the conversation highlights…

“I like it, I think it’s nice, with the New Forest and everywhere around, it’s lovely, I like it actually, all the buses go into the forest and from the forest you can get to the beach.”

“We go to the New Town Centre or Rumbridge Street but not all together.”

“There’s lots of potential, it’s just not realised.”

“[The New Town Centre] seems to be clean and tidy all the time, I’ve never seen it in a bad state, the bins are regularly emptied.”

“Generally the streets are a mess but that is the ignorance of people… there is a lot of disrespect.”

“There’s no respect anymore around Totton, no police presence.”

“The local people volunteer to do litter picking; they clean up the mess and clear the paths.”

“The 60s precinct is long overdue a rethink.”

“I do understand we need new houses but we’ve got to have the shopping to go with it.”

“They really look after [Totton], it’s lovely, but the 60s precinct is going downhill, we need something like Marks and Spencer because the entry to Totton doesn’t look appealing.”

“People are lovely, the facilities are good but the shopping is dire.”

“They need to bring the place up to bring more people in here… we are struggling at the moment as a town centre.”

“I would like to see something from Southampton high street coming to Totton.”

“I don’t mind charity shops but a few nice clothes shops would be lovely.”

“Some local greengrocers or a market would be nice.”

“I don’t think people want the big shops here, if people want to go to big shops they go to Southampton… More independent shops would give it a nicer feel, you need a little bit of both in the size of Totton.”

“The train going down to the waterside would be great... I am all for opening up the waterside, and let’s use it to Totton’s advantage. If we could have more shops in Totton, people could start their journey in Totton before they go down to the waterside.”

“If you come to Totton from Southampton’s end, it’s dire, it looks really poor.”

“It used to be the largest village in the country, but now it is just a town with not a lot going for it.”

“The younger generation tend to move out as there is nothing going on.”

“I think we can create some nicer and more useable areas in the town centre, there is a beautiful park over here, I would like to see it being used more.”

“We could do with a community centre twice the size, we are constantly looking for more room, because we are in the centre of everything, we are in the hub and try to provide for the community.”

“People have become conditioned to isolate in their house… they’re still nervous about catching covid… I think its very difficult to reach these people… we need to get this society back on track.”

“It’s a nice central location, good to work, good to get to the railways, its got a good train station and good bus links and stuff like that.”

“It is a friendly community… everyone around here seems friendly… yeah it’s good.”

“You’ve got a decent range of shops here, could probably do with a bit of a freshen up, there were plans a while back to sort the precinct out, it’s kind of a mish mash of everything.”

“On Rumbridge Street they are building some flats on the corner, they used to be fruit and veg shops but I guess with Asda people want to go there.”

“The plans were for this to become a one way street going east, as there’s a major problem with cars trying to come back down the other way… so I think this should be a one way street… this will encourage more people to park and come to the shops… the original plans for the street were involving wider pavements, trees and planters.”

“[At the Civic Centre area] the guys cut the grass every week, they look after it and it’s lovely.”

“The 60s precinct has got to go.”

“There’s not as many people in Rumbridge Street as the new town centre, not a lot of people come down here anymore because of the traffic.”

“If you had a lot of interesting independent shops down [Rumbridge Street], this could become quite an interesting area, this was the main high street and it’s now completely shifted over to the other side which is a shame because it’s a lovely place.”

“It’s a shame that [Rumbridge St] has been forgotten about really.”

“The amount of traffic is horrendous, there were plans to open up the railway line but I’m not sure what is happening with that.”

“I use the town centre nearly every day, we enjoy Greggs coffee… just everything… we’ve made lots of friends here.”

“We don’t really go to Rumbridge Street, it used to be our main shopping street but there’s nothing there anymore.”