AN INVERKEITHING shopkeeper who fears he could be forced out of Fraser Avenue is urging residents to “make their voices heard” over Fife Council’s regeneration plans for the street.

In June, the Press told you about Jav Irshad’s claims that the council was “not giving us enough information” on its plans on whether the street’s shops stay or go.

Jav (31), who owns Shad Superstore – set up by his dad, Mohammad, in 1982 – started a customer petition, which attracted more than 600 signatures, in case a shop was not part of the council’s proposals. Following a council information event at Inverkeithing Civic Centre on Saturday, Jav said he had been assured by officers “it’s looking good” for the shop – but he’s now appealing to residents to come out and have their say.

He told the Press, “We don’t have any plans to leave – we’ve been here 32 years. I was demanding answers from the council but not being told what was going on about the shops. But what I’ve been told now is that Fife Council need people to go along to these meetings – it’s up to locals to decide if they want a shop. The positive thing that did come out of it is that I’ve now been told it’s looking good for the shop but the thing is that not enough people are turning up for these meetings.

“7N Architects (who are preparing the master plan for Fraser Avenue) gave me positive feedback saying that the majority of people they speak to want a shop but Fife Council did say to me they need people to come to the meetings and say it.” Following the success of the petition, Jav and his staff now plan to go round homes in Spencerfield Road, Spittalfield Road and Alma Street to get more names backing a shop in Fraser Avenue.

He said, “We had more than 600 names and I did raise the question if Fife Council would take the petition into consideration. These voices need to be heard as well.” Fife Council will hold masterplanning workshops in the new year and Jav reiterated the need for locals to attend the events.

He said, “People need to come out and say what they want. It’s not just the shop but having a say in what you want to see in Fraser Avenue.

“If not enough people come along, in the end it could just be houses. There will be no shops. Fife Council has set the workshops up for people to go along and it’s people’s voices that matter. Or in the end Fife Council could say, we did our bit but you never did yours and now there are no shops.” Fife Council underlined that no plans are in place and that workshops will be held to engage the community to put together a proposal.

David Robertson, housing services team manager, said, “We recognise that local facilities are important to the local community and we would be keen to see something of that type in the masterplan. This is only the very beginning of the planning stage and no decisions have been made yet on what will be included. We have received a petition which supports the inclusion of shops within the Fraser Avenue redevelopment.

“The masterplan process has only just been launched and from the work that will be done at the planned community workshops in February and March we will be able to develop a clear plan for the area. There are two workshops organised for February and March 2015 to which we would encourage everyone to attend. We’ll release the dates for these as soon as possible.”