New Town Mayor - Cllr Neil Tungate

It is a great honour to be chosen by my colleagues to be Mayor of New Milton for the coming 2012/13 session. I have been a member of New Milton Town Council for some 17 years during which time I have held the post of Council Chairman in 2000/01 and have been Chairman of the Finance Committee for the past 10 years.

Back in 2000, the role of Chairman was very low-key compared with the current Mayoral role, and I would estimate that I probably attended six or seven events during that year. Today the Mayor is in great demand and attends several events every month, so it is as well that I have recently taken early retirement, giving me the time to give my full attention to the role.

My theme for the year will be “Arts and Sport” – New Milton is blessed with many excellent musicians, artists, actors and sports participants and I hope to be able to meet as many of you as possible.

I also look forward to meeting, during the coming year, many of the great people of our town who give their own time so freely in voluntary roles. Without our voluntary organisations, our town would be a much poorer place, and I salute all your efforts.

Results of this evenings Mayoral and Town Council committee election results are as follows:

The Town Mayor and Town Council Chairman for 2012/13 is Cllr Neil Tungate, with Valya Schooling as Vice Chairman / Deputy Mayor.

Committees: 

F&GP – Alan O’Sullivan (Chairman), Glyn Riley (Vice)
Amenities – Geoff Blunden (Chairman), Janette Duke (Vice)
Planning – Steve Clarke (Chairman), Valya Schooling (Vice)

Friday April 13th marked the opening of the long awaited play park at Long Meadow. After a consultation period with residents the proposals for a play park at Long Meadow plans were drawn up by New Milton Town Council, in partnership with New Forest District Council. The play park vision was realised earlier last month when residents gathered for the grand opening which featured BBC Radio Solent’s Julian Clegg who previously resided in Grove Road, opposite the meadow when he was younger.

After many months of hard work and addressing numerous questions from those members of the public who objected to the proposals which were equally countered by those in favour; it gave me great pleasure to witness the opening of the “Grove Play Area” in Long Meadow, Barton by Julian Clegg on Friday 13th April.

I have visited the facility daily since its opening and speaking with the parents and the children who are using it I am pleased to hear their voices expressing appreciation to the council for the facility and to notice the great pleasure and enjoyment they are deriving from the challenges the play ground presents to them.

- Cllr Goff Beck

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Wednesday 4th April 2012 marked the Annual Towns meeting where Cllr Mrs Valya Schooling, Town Mayor presented her annual report alongside the Chairmen of each committee.

Prior to the formal start of business the winner of the annual Citizen of the Year award was announced. The COTY award aims to recognise outstanding contributions to the community and each year the award is presented by the Town Mayor to a local community-spirited individual based on the following criteria:

• Someone who has shown service to the community
• Shown courage in overcoming/coping with disability and service to the community
• Demonstrated an act of bravery
• Shown a helping/caring attitude to someone disadvantaged

“It has been an honour and a pleasure to be Mayor and Chairman of the Council and I wish to thank my Councillor colleagues and Council staff for all their hard work and support throughout the past year. ” – Valya Schooling, Town Mayor

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New Forest District Council recently received a request for a scoping opinion on whether a future application would require a supportive Environmental Impact Assessment. As with very limited types of other planning applications that solely require technical or legal appraisal, the council does not consult.

New Milton Town Council and its Members wish to state that there had been no consultation on a potential wind turbine on land north of Barton Golf Course, reference 12/98214. It was unfortunate that the district council’s website could be interpreted as showing that consultation with the Town Council and the two District members for Becton ward , who are also Town Councillors, had taken place. Amendments to the website have clarified this point.

Any planning application will be subject to normal publicity by the district council and this would include informing the owners/occupiers of adjacent land, the Town Council and the relevant ward members. The fact that New Forest District Council has technically determined that an Environmental Impact Assessment is not required in no way limits its ability to take all comments on board or intimates that a subsequent approval is more likely. The Town Council will make their public comment through their Planning Committee once a formal application is received. Their members may well have individual opinions yet to be aired, but there is empathy for residents concerned about the potential turbine. The Chairman of the Town Council Planning Committee, Cllr Steve Clarke, advises that concerned residents should write to the Town Council to air their views once a formal application has been received.

New Forest District Council apologies if any misinterpretation of the information on its web site has caused embarrassment to the Town Council and its members.

Last Friday evening Cllr Mrs Valya Schooling, Mayor of New Milton, attended with her husband Claude and Town Clerk Graham Flexman and his wife a dinner at ‘Hoburn Bashley’ to celebrate their 100th year in business. The superb meal, entertaining band and good company made it a memorable evening. I was thrilled to be presented with a cheque for £500 for my chosen charities. Thank you Hoburn for your generosity.

Upcoming events

This year the annual ‘Civic Service’ will be held at ‘Our Lady of Lourdes’ Catholic Church, Mount Avenue on Sunday 15th April at 3pm.

The last fund raising event of my Mayoral Year will be a ‘St George’s Day Lunch’ at ‘Hoburn Bashley’ on the 23rd April, tickets cost £15 and are available from Elaine Reed at the Town Hall.

The ‘Annual Towns Meeting’ takes place on the 4th April at 7.30pm in the Town Hall. We are pleased to announce that the speaker this year will be Anthony Climpson OBE. Anthony is Employment and Tourism Manager for New Forest District Council.  At this meeting we announce the ‘Citizen of the Year’ and my chosen charities receive their cheques and say a few words about their charity.

Councillor Mrs Valya Schooling, Mayor of New Milton, held
her Civic Charity Ball on Saturday, 14 January.

With 110 guests at Bashley Hoburne Holiday Park, this raised
£1,700 to be shared between the Mayor’s chosen local charities.

• Parkinson’s UK, New Forest Branch
• Coda Music Centre
• Neighbourcare New Milton
• New Forest Disability Group
• Darby and Joan Club – New Milton

Local band “Shrunk in the Wash” were absolutely brilliant,
guests happily danced the night away to their fabulous music and singing.

Cllr Schooling said “I am so very grateful to all my
sponsors for their generous donations, to the many local businesses, friends
and councillors who attended the ball making the evening so special.”

Following the Remembrance Sunday on 13th November. Cllr Goff Beck, Parade Marshal for the remembrance ceremony expressed his thanks to organisations who helped organise the event in an open letter published in the Advertiser & Times. The contents of Goff’s letter can be found below.

Pictures from the Remembrance Sunday are now available online in our 2011 photo gallery.

Through the medium of your letters column I wish to record
my appreciation to all members of our community who supported the New Milton Town Council and the New Milton Branch of the Royal British Legion with their attendance at the town’s War Memorial and the subsequent Service of Remembrance held in the Memorial Hall on Sunday 13^th November.

The weather was kind to us which no doubt encourage
residents to turn out and pay their respects to those who have given their lives in the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts throughout the world. This year’s event which celebrated the Royal British Legion’s 90th anniversary was by far the best attended by both uniformed organisations and the general public.

How pleasing to see our police and other response services
dressed in their number 1 uniforms, various adult organisations represented by chairmen wearing their chains of office with pride.  Most reassuring was the presence of so many
of the town’s young people dressed in a variety of well-prepared, pressed uniforms; wearing those uniforms and marching through our streets with banners flying expressing self discipline and pride in their particular organisation.

The uniformed young people were joined by students of
Arnewood, Ballard, Durlston Court and New Milton Junior Schools.  The parade was led by the Christchurch Scouts
Band whose buglers are to be commended with their playing of ‘Last Post and Reveille’. During this very poignant period leading up to the two minutes silence, there was a feeling of a close togetherness and community spirit being generated from all those surrounding the memorial.  A poignant moment to be remembered, and from
a very sombre gathering where people pondered with their own thoughts of those who had paid the ultimate price.

The Service of Remembrance, hosted in the Memorial Hall was
led by the Reverend Andrew Bailey assisted by the Senior Pastor of the New Life Church, John Fowler, New Milton Jubilee Singers and the President of the New Milton Branch of the RBL, the Rt Hon Desmond Swayne TD MP.  Special congratulations are extended to the Army Cadet who carried the union flag and the Air Cadet bearing the RAF flag for the disciplined and high standard of bearing exhibited whilst conducting their duties.

Thank you all for your support.

Cllr Goff Beck

Parade Marshall

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An election will take place on October 20th for the position of Milton Ward Councillor. Details are available on our notice of single election page.

• Notice Of Election Single Election   View Document
• Statement of Persons Nominated    View Document

Read more…

Dear Residents,

I am happy to announce that my team and I have organised a coffee morning at the
‘Community Centre’ on Thursday 13^th October from 10 – 12noon. The tickets are £8 and are available at the Town Hall. I do hope you are able to support us we look forward to meeting you.

All money raised from the Mayor’s events throughout the year goes into the ‘Mayor’s Community Fund’ and is distributed to charities in our Town by the Mayor at the end of his or her term of office.

Our biggest event will be a black tie dinner and dance the ‘Mayor’s Ball’ at Hoburn Bashley on the 14^th January 2012. Tickets will cost £25 and will shortly be available in the Town Hall.

Please give me a call or email me if you find it difficult to go into the Town Hall my contact details are as follows:

Tel: 01425 623388
Email: valya.schooling@btinternet.com

Cllr Mrs Valya Schooling
Mayor New Milton