St. George's South candidates Ren?e Webb and Tim Smith have covered a lot of ground on their campaign trail - literally.

Constituency four is the largest land mass of the 36 constituencies under the new boundaries. It takes in parts of Hamilton Parish as far west as Abbot's Cliff Road, north to Coney Island, east to St. David's Road as far as Chapel of Ease Road, Lower Gates Road to the junction with Southside Road and south along Wilkinson Avenue, Harrington Sound Road, Paynter's Road and including the homes of Tucker's Town as the constituency wraps around Castle Harbour.

However, many of the home owners in Bermuda's most expensive neighbourhood are non-Bermudians and not eligible to vote. There are 1,201 registered voters in the constituency, second to Hamilton West which has 1,204.

Ms Webb estimates about 850 of them were in her old Hamilton East constituency where she topped the polls in her first General Election in 1993. She and Derrick Burgess expanded their majorities in 1998 and she expects to secure a third straight victory on July 24.

"One of the things about my constituency is it is extremely diverse, you would have a neighbourhood like Harlem (Heights), then Tucker's Town and then Southside," said Ms Webb.

"In terms of makeup, it represents the whole broad range of diversity, as far as neighbourhoods and ethnic groups."

Ms Webb is hearing people's concerns about things like housing and crime, which are national concerns.

"The primary issue is housing, people are very concerned that the cost of housing has gone up so much, and rapidly going up," explained Ms Webb.

"As I explain to them we have to look at housing in a much more global perspective and why it has gone up. International business is growing and when international business and the economy grows there are certain effects, such as housing and traffic.

"Moving forward we have to look at the whole issue of sustainable development and when is enough, enough in terms of companies coming in. And how all the housing for Bermudians in the immediate future is going to be addressed, as well as long term."

The concerns about crime in her constituency depends on the neighbourhood.

"It's not an issue in Southside but it is an issue for Harlem, with things like bike theft," said Ms Webb.

"The canvassing is going extremely well, people are very receptive and the core support that the PLP had in the last election is still very much there. People are coming out to vote in district four, contrary to what people were saying prior to the calling of the election that Bermudians weren't going to vote.

"People feel it is their obligation to vote. It was a struggle to get Universal Adult Suffrage in Bermuda and as a consequence people think they need to vote. I came across one young man and I asked him why he wasn't going to vote and he told me. When I left he told me 'thank you for listening, I'll come out to vote'."

Tim Smith has also been seeking votes in St. George's South. He won a seat for the United Bermuda Party in their stronghold Paget West in the last General Election. So why the switch to St. George's South?

"Essentially the Premier made my seat in Paget redundant," said Mr. Smith in reference to the boundary changes.

"I went to my leader Dr. Gibbons and advised him I was still young, passionate about Bermuda and I still wanted to make a contribution. He said "all right, you're going to have to find a new area" and I said Hamilton Parish and St. George's make sense for me because of historical family connections. Many of my relatives began in St. David's and started to move westward."

Mr. Smith has always been a Paget resident. He began canvassing in his new constituency about four months ago, long before the United Bermuda Party officially announced him as a St. George's South candidate.

"I've never been afraid of hard work and my track record over the years will show that," said Mr. Smith.

"I've been out (canvassing) since March. The reception I've been getting on the doorsteps has been exceptionally warm and I think I've been successful in persuading voters why I'd be a strong and good candidate for them."

The concerns of the constituents in the various neighbourhoods are the same nationally, with housing, the plight of the seniors, healthcare costs, crime and education.

"On the local level some of the residents on Southside are still complaining that some of the electrics on some of the buildings are still causing problems. These are people who are renting or just bought the homes at Southside," said Mr. Smith.

"These are light switches that aren't working and they have been trying to get it addressed."

Talk of further development at Southside has, according to Mr. Smith, caused concern for the residents there as they fear losing open spaces in order to meet the demand for more housing.

"They are concerned that over-development of some of the greenbelts are not going to add to the beauty of the area, that it will become too congested," said Mr. Smith.

"The new residents there were promised that some of the greenbelts would be maintained. Now they have been told those green belts would be developed and I've assured them that if those promises were made we were going to keep them."