New Milton Advertiser 11th Dec 2020

Friday 11th December 2020

70P

N EW M ILTON A DVERTISER | advertiserandtimes.co.uk

Christmas shopping Hitting the high streets Pages 19-21

Food&Drink Curry house wins awards

Sport Christchurch clinch Bashley win with Pope strike Pages 23-24

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Council boss: wheelie bins no ‘done deal’

Pupils dig deep for trees

INSIDE Covid vaccinations could be rolled out in Forest next week Page 4 ‘Cowards’ behind death of deer dragged and bitten by dogs Page 5 Hunt for flytipper who dumped 40 mattresses at three beauty spots Page 9 Plan for a ‘locals only’ rule in sale of rural council homes Page 15 9 771353 223033 43 9 771353 223033 44 9 771353 223033 45 9 771353 223033 46 18 Christian Comment 22 Letters 22 From Our Files 25 Puzzle Corner 25 On the Hoof 27 Art and Clubs 28 Classifieds 34-37 Motoring 38-42 Family Announcements back page 9 771353 223033 9 771353 223033 48 9 771353 223033 49 47 Index Planning

BRINGING wheelie bins to the New Forest is “not a done deal”, a senior district councillor has maintained amid continued criticism of a proposed over- haul of waste services. Cllr Alison Hoare defended the Conservative-controlled district council after two of her party colleagues joined criti- cism of its public consultation on the draft waste management strategy, which includes rub- bish and recycling collections on alternate weeks. At a recent meeting of the au- thority, Tory Cllr Alexis McAvoy said she was “very disappoint- ed” the wording of the consul- tation made it seem as if “all roads lead to wheelie bins”. But Cllr Hoare, NFDC cab- inet member for the environ- ment, stressed the idea of wheelie bins was “not a done deal” and that it was a consul- tation to gauge opinion. She said it was necessary since the council needed to “benchmark” suggested poli- cies against the service it cur- rently ran to see how the two compared. But Cllr Hoare said the coun- BY JON WALLER Tory administration attacked by own side as consultation ends

Continued on page 2 Cllr Hoare said members who were critical of the consultation had “not been at all helpful” and she suggested they might be the reason why only 3% of New Forest households had made submissions by Monday – two days before the final dead- line for comments. The consultation had been widely advertised in newspa- pers, the council’s social media platforms and on the radio, Cllr Hoare added, and she defended the 3% figure. “It is not that good but for a council survey, actually, it is a pretty good result,” she said. However, that did not wash with the Liberal Democrats, and opposition leader Cllr Da- vid Harrison branded it “very disappointing”. He was worried many people were still unaware of the pro- posals. Some could be “taken completely by surprise” when wheelie bins are introduced outside their front doors, he added. Lib Dem Cllr Jack Davies claimed the consultation A RETIREMENT developer has come under fire after re- vealing plans to build on Lym- ington’s former police station. Churchill Retirement Living is looking to turn the South- ampton Road site into a collec- tion of one and two-bedroom self-contained flats for older people. It has not revealed how many are proposed but there would be shared communal facilities, an amenity space and an aver- age parking ratio of one space per three flats. However, civic group the Ly-

Aston Archer (6) and Evalyn Stubbington (5) from Ashley Infant School joined in a tree-planting drive that has taken off across the New Forest – full story, page 6 (Photo: Steve West)

Mystery of headless swans

mington Society has warned the scheme would help “drive out families” and change the character of the area. The Ringwood-based com- pany has invited residents to share their views on the out- line plan shown on its website – where Churchill called the proposal “a high quality, pur- pose-built retirement living de- velopment”. It said it had showed New Forest District Council the draft plans “in their current form” and would use feedback from the authority and resi- DECAPITATED swans found at Hurst Spit have sparked an investigation amid fears of an outbreak of a deadly avian flu. Two have been found by a local fisherman in the past fort- night, which he reported to the Department for Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra). Another was discovered at Sturt Pond in Milford by Keith Metcalf, from the village’s con- servation volunteers group. Now the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) – which is part of Defra – has launched an investigation and removed a

dents “to further develop the scheme” before submitting it formally. It added: “The next step is continued consultation and on- going discussions with the local planning authority with the aim of submitting a planning appli- cation in the new year.” As reported in the A&T, po- lice officers relocated in Octo- ber into space at the town hall from the old building, which dates back to 1952. It was recently branded “out- dated and no longer fit for pur- carcass for examination. It has not ruled out the possi- bility of the swans being affect- ed by avian flu, but there has so far been no definitive explana- tion for why they had lost their heads. People have been urged to report any dead birds found on the shoreline. An APHA spokesman told the A&T: “We are aware of a num- ber of swan deaths at the Hurst Spit in Milford. The deaths are currently under investigation.” The fisherman, who did not want to be named, said he found the first beheaded swan

in late November. “I came across a badly de- composed carcass of a very large bird and although it had no head or neck, by the large webbed feet which were still evident it looked to me like it could be a swan,” he said. “The next time I was fish- ing in the area was again in the dark – this time the night of 3rd December. “While walking towards the castle, on the backwater side of the Shingle Bank, I came across a large white shape just below the spring high tide line which, as I got closer, was clear that it was another dead swan.” Mr Metcalf told the A&T he bagged up and reported the bird at Sturt Pond, and was mystified by the circumstances. He had spoken to a local expert

Cllr Alison Hoare

cil would have to make some changes, and blamed the gov- ernment for introducing new waste strategy policies which local authorities must follow. As reported in the A&T, the proposed overhaul of waste collection could involve 90% of homes in the district receiving wheelie bins, and rubbish and recycling collections on alter- nate weeks. NFDC is also considering a separate weekly food waste pickup, while garden waste could also be stored in wheelie bins and collected fortnightly for a fee. The ideas have been drawn up as the district council has acknowledged its recycling rates are poor compared with other authorities.

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Flats plan for old police site

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Continued on page 2

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