New Milton Advertiser 9th Oct 2020

2 · Friday 9th October 2020

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Tory takes control with pledge to ‘reset’ council

£80k lottery prize unclaimed in New Forest A NEW Forest EuroMillions player has yet to claim their £80,000 prize, two weeks after winning. Camelot is on the hunt for the lucky winner who bought their ticket in the New Forest, but the lottery operator did not re- veal the exact location. The ticket-holder matched five numbers and a lucky star in the draw on 22nd September, when the results were 16, 25, 28, 39, 40, with lucky stars of 1 and 6. They have until 21st March next year to claim their prize of £79,147.50. If no one fronts up, the prize money will go towards UK National Lottery-funded projects. Players have 180 days after the draw to claim. Anyone who thinks they have the winning ticket should ring the National Lottery on 0333 234 5050 or email help@nation al-lottery.co.uk

Police base moves Continued from front page In a secret ballot Cllr Mellor won the support of 40 of the 74 elected members of BCP Coun- cil with Cllr Slade receiving 33 votes, and one councillor ab- staining. Cllr Mellor said an “inability of the previous administration to make decisions” had “ham- pered” its work and “squan- dered” opportunities. He promised to lead a council that “preserves our outstand- ing natural environment and protect our ancient, medieval and more modern history while embracing the 21st century fu- ture”. He said after his election: “Our purpose is to make your area a place where people want to be, where young peo- ple thrive, where businesses prosper, where those in work flourish, where there is hope for those that need it and where the elderly are valued. “We’re living in wholly unprec- edented and worrying times. It is our job to provide certainty, confidence and optimism to our communities.” Rather than appoint a cab- inet immediately, he appealed to the Christchurch Independ- welfare facilities for officers and staff, meeting rooms and park- ing. Mr Lane said: “Providing ef- fective and efficient bases for the officers and staff that serve our communities has always been one of my priorities for the role of commissioner, and our service must respond to chang- ing demands. “This move sees the police even closer to the centre of Lymington, where they will con- tinue to keep residents safer.” THE retention of a public en- quiries desk at the new Lym- ington police base prompted complaints the town was be- ing treated better than New Milton. Speaking during Monday’s virtual New Milton Town Council meeting, residents’ association chairman Alan Watson argued this was just one of a number of examples of Lymington being better served and funded. “Low and behold the Hawkins, who said he believed it addressed previous problems. One of the main reasons the committee turned down the last application was because it was felt the store would be better located at the site of the town’s former Co-op in Station Road, which is now owned by local department store Brad- beers. Cllr Hawkins said Aldi should “not be forced into renting someone else’s property”, add- ing there was not enough space for lorries to turn at the former Co-op site. He added: “I think it is a trav- esty of justice it was turned down by one vote last time. New Milton residents want this. It will give them better choice and they believe it will be an as- set for the town. “I am first and foremost a town councillor for New Milton and if this is what the residents want then I will vote for it.” NFDC also said the original plan for a supermarket, on land currently owned by New Milton Sand and Ballast, had insuf- ficient landscaping and unac- ceptable proposals for vehicle access. There was also concern about the impact on town cen- tre shops. Aldi store bid Continued from front page

ents, who broke off from the Conservatives over the creation of BCP Council, to “take the weekend” to consider an offer to become a part of his admin- istration. However, the offer was im- mediately rebuffed by the group which had dismissed

similar offers in recent weeks. “We stood on a platform in the elections last year that the Tories cannot be trusted to pro- tect Christchurch and we won eight of the 10 seats,” it said in a statement. “We stand by that position to retain our political and personal integrity.”

New leader at BCP after Unity Alliance lost confidence vote

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BY JOSH WRIGHT

A CONSERVATIVE councillor will lead BCP Council after his group secured majority support at an extraordinary meeting. Cllr Drew Mellor beat com- petition from Liberal Democrat Cllr Vikki Slade, having de- posed her in a vote of no con- fidence last month, writes Josh Wright of the Local Democracy Reporting Service. He said he would lead a coun- cil that is “collaborative, ac- countable and fair”. Last Thursday night’s ballot was brought about following the success of a vote of no con- fidence against the Unity Alli- ance leader, Cllr Slade. Cllr Mellor was nominated as leader by his deputy, Cllr Phil Broadhead, who said the council “needed a reset” and relationships that “had broken down” needed to be repaired. Christchurch Independent

Fresh cabinet includes Covid role ON Tuesday Cllr Drew Mellor appointed his first cabinet, in- cluding a new role with a spe- cific focus on the coronavirus response. ous cabinet experience and he will be responsible for envi- ronmental issues.

The other appointments are Cllr Phil Broadhead, regenera- tion; Cllr Mohan Iyengar, tour- ism; Cllr Mike White, children; Cllr Karen Rampton, adults; Cllr Mike Greene, transport; and Cllr Bob Lawton, housing. Cllr Mellor has also intro- duced six new “lead mem- ber” positions through which certain councillors will be re- sponsible for overseeing prior- ity areas. Three Conservatives have been appointed so far with the remaining positions saved for councillors from other groups. The first meeting of the new cabinet will be held on 28th October.

Cllr Mellor selected 10 coun- cillors to head up the council’s work – all but one of whom have been cabinet members before. He said his “knowl- edgeable and skilful” team would work to “drive our area forward”. Included in the cabinet will be a new health and ed- ucation portfolio, headed by Cllr Nicola Greene to lead on the council’s response to the coronavirus. Cllr Mellor also created a “community safety” role for Cllr May Haines. Cllr Mark Anderson was his only selection without previ-

Cllr Drew Mellor

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Cllr Lesley Dedman, a member of the Unity Alliance cabinet, put forward Cllr Slade once again as the coalition’s candi- date, praising her “integrity” and “honest desire to improve things for residents”. Questions were raised by Lib- eral Democrat Cllr Mike Cox about Cllr Mellor’s past in busi- ness, highlighting two county court judgments over debts. But Cllr Mellor hit back, ask- ing which entrepreneur had not “made mistakes”.

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The new town hall office and (inset) Michael Lane No front desk in New Milton is ‘unfair treatment’

police were very pleased to announce that in their new Lymington home they will have a front desk,” Mr Watson said. “Yet, New Milton, which is a larger town with 27,000 res- idents, has not had a public desk for years.” There has been no pub- lic police desk in New Mil- ton since officers moved into the town hall in Ashley Road following the closure in 2013 of the old station in Old

Milton Road. In September, the A&T asked Hampshire police if a public desk may now be made available at New Milton as the provision is continuing in Lymington. A force spokesperson re- plied: “We are unaware of any plans at this stage.” Responding to Mr Watson’s complaints, NewMilton mayor Cllr Alvin Reid said he would write to the police about the matter.

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ciety, there is always a few who think the rules don’t apply to them.” In Bournemouth, Dorset Po- lice fined a local 19-year-old man £200 for hosting an illegal birthday party with 18 guests at a flat off Manor Road on the same night. Another wrote: “This is fan- tastic news. It will be great to have an Aldi in the town.” £20,000 towards improvements at the roundabout at Caird Av- enue and the A337. The new supermarket would not “compete” with existing stores in the area, including Morrisons, Lidl and Tesco, it said, but “complement” them. It will provide a “valuable con- tribution towards local shop- ping”, it claimed. After news of the latest plan- ning application was posted on social media, one local said: “An Aldi store will be an asset to New Milton and adjacent towns and villages. Let’s all hope this application gets through plan- ning this time.”

sure they know what they must do and, if they don’t heed the warning, take alternative action to try and improve their behav- iour.” Cllr Reid added: “We’re con- scious that most kids are good and understanding but, as is the case across the whole of so- In its submission, Aldi said a new priority T-junction onto Caird Avenue will be created for access to the 1,862-square metre store. There will also be a new pedestrian crossing. It said it will also contribute The planning committee nar- rowly backed a council officer’s recommendation that Aldi’s development did not satisfy the needs of the town. The new application claimed these problems have been solved. It reiterated its argu- ment that the former Co-op site, which has lain empty since being bought by Bradbeers in 2017, is not commercially viable as it has too little room for the 127 car parking spaces it is pro- posing.

Covid flouters Continued from front page

would probably be mortified. “Chastising them doesn’t always do so much good. We should educate them first to en-

Weekly rate of new coronavirus cases accelerating THE weekly number of new coronavirus cases in the New Forest is accelerating again, according to government fig- ures. cording to latest separate fig- ures compiled by the Office for National Statistics. ures also showed there have been no Covid-19 deaths in the conurbation, leaving the total at 189.

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The provisional figures from ONS relate to cause of death for fatalities up to 25th Sep- tember but which were regis- tered up to 3rd October. In the BCP Council area, which includes Christchurch, the number of cases registered so far has reached 1,429. The latest week of ONS fig-

On Tuesday the regional R-rates – the average number of people who get infected from someone with the coro- navirus – were in the range of 1.1-1.4 for both the south-east and south-west. A rate of more than one indi- cates the pandemic is growing.

There were 55 new cases in the district as of Tuesday, compared with 35 the week before – bringing the total to 661 so far. The previous week’s increase was 10. However, there were no deaths in the New Forest, ac-