Robin Hutson, Aaron Phipps, Angela Hartnett, Deborah Fleming and Martyn Underhill in New Year's Honours

THE hotelier behind the five-star Lime Wood at Lyndhurst and a Paralympian wheelchair rugby ace from Totton are among local people named in the New Year’s Honours list.

Robin Hutson, who also is involved in the chain of Pig Hotels and restaurants, has been made an OBE for services to the hospitality industry and philanthropy.

Having enjoyed a meteoric rise, which included becoming general manager of the Chewton Glen in New Milton when he was just 28 years old, Robin founded the Hotel du Vin group in 1994 which became influential in the boutique hotel movement before being sold for £66m.

After winning the Hotelier of the Year award in 2003, Robin became executive chair alongside Nick Jones at Soho House Group a year later, before selling that in 2008.

In 2009 Robin began the Lime Wood venture by opening the exclusive Lyndhurst site. He has also created the chain of Pig Hotels – including the heralded Brockenhurst site – that come under the banner of Lime Wood Group and Home Grown Hotels, of which Robin is chief executive.

Aaron Phipps was made an MBE for services to wheelchair rugby, which included him helping the team win a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

He is also an ambassador for the Meningitis Research Foundation, having suffered at the age of 15 with meningitis C and meningococcal septicaemia. He survived but the disease meant both his legs and most of his fingers had to be amputated.

After a long period of rehabilitation, Aaron became interested in wheelchair racing.

He first competed in the Team GB Paralympic rugby team in London in 2012, where he scored over half the rugby team’s points.

Before further success in Tokyo, in 2016 he became the first disabled British person to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania without assistance, to raise funds for charity.

When his off-road wheelchair could no longer deal with the rough terrain, he continued on his hands and knees, culminating in an epic nine-hour trek through the night and freezing temperatures to reach the summit.

A mentor and motivational speaker, Aaron delivers workshops to thousands of young people each year.

Others to be given gongs included Angela Hartnett, who lives in Kent but has her name on the Hartnett and Holder restaurant at Lime Wood and was a protégé of top chef Gordon Ramsey. She was made an OBE for services to the hospitality industry and to the NHS during pandemic.

Deborah Fleming, chief executive of University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, was also made an OBE for services to the NHS.

Former Dorset police and crime commissioner Martyn Underhill was made an MBE for services to mental health awareness and support.