Voters choose new-look Forest town and parish councils
THE New Forest has some new-look town and parish councils after the local elections last week.
The biggest change was in Hythe and Dibden where the Liberal Democrats made a clean sweep of the council, unseating the Conservative’s New Forest East party chair James Binns in the process.
On Lymington and Pennington Town Council, the Tories retained control by taking 11 of the 15 seats, with the Lib Dems doubling their representation to two.
Also re-elected were Independent Cllr Jacqui England and Pennington Community Cllr Martina Humber. Tory James Brushwood lost his seat in the Pennington ward.
New Milton Town Council remains firmly under the Tories who took all but one of the 18 seats up for grabs. The remaining space went to Labour’s Helen Wallis-Dowling in the uncontested Fernhill ward.
The Tories held Totton and Eling Town Council more narrowly by taking 12 of the 20 seats. The rest were picked up by the Lib Dems.
The smaller parishes are non-party political and most had no election at all after not enough candidates stood to spark any contests. Some only had votes in a few wards where a ballot was triggered.
In Fordingbridge there were 14 candidates for the 13 seats. The one loser was Labour’s Sarah Sumner, who was the only person running openly under a political banner.
However, Labour now has three members on Ringwood Town Council, which is controlled by the Tories who took nine of the 14 seats. Two Independents were also elected. Only in Ringwood South was an election contested.
The New Forest’s 37 town and parish councils will be meeting over the coming weeks to choose their chairs and committee members.
On New Forest District Council, the Tories held on to power against a Lib Dem revival which saw the local party grow the group on the 60-member authority from two seats to 13.
Despite losing 10 councillors, including to NFDC’s sole Independent Cllr England in the Lymington Town ward, the Tories took 46 seats and still have a big majority of 32 at the authority’s Appletree Court HQ in Lyndhurst.
For full results of the town and parish elections, click here.
