Apologies

Prior to the commencement of the meeting, the Town Clerk reported that no apologies for absence had been received. .

Declarations of Interest

Prior to the commencement of the meeting, no members gave notice that they would need to declare any interests at the meeting.

Present:

Cllr P Chambers
Cllr N J Chard
Cllr N R G Clarke
Cllr D R Cole
Cllr L C Ford
Cllr J D Heron
Cllr W S Rippon-Swaine
Cllr M A Steele
Cllr B H Terry
Cllr J Terry
Cllr M J Urwin
Cllr A C Wiseman

In Attendance:

Mr T Simpson, Town Clerk
Jo Stannard, Deputy Town Clerk
Claire Perrens, Meetings Administrator

C/4817 Election of Town Mayor

Cllr Terry was nominated for Town Mayor, proposed by Cllr Rippon-Swaine and seconded by Cllr Cole. There were no other nominations.

RESOLVED: That Cllr Terry be elected as Town Mayor for the ensuing year.

Cllr Terry took the chair for the remainder of the meeting.

C/4818 Declaration of Acceptance of Office by Town Mayor

Cllr Terry read and signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, witnessed by the Town Clerk, and thanked all the councillors for this honour.

C/4819 Election of Deputy Town Mayor

Cllr Ford was nominated for Deputy Town Mayor, proposed by Cllr Cole and seconded by Cllr Rippon-Swaine.

Cllr Heron was nominated for Deputy Town Mayor, proposed by Cllr Steele and seconded by Cllr Mrs Terry.

A secret ballot was requested by more than two members, in accordance with Standing Orders.

As the votes were equal, Cllr Heron withdrew from the election.

RESOLVED: That Cllr Ford be elected as Deputy Town Mayor for the ensuing year.

C/4820 Declaration of Acceptance of Office by Deputy Town Mayor

Cllr Ford read and signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, witnessed by the Town Clerk.

C/4821 Representatives on Outside Bodies

Members noted that representatives had been appointed to outside bodies for four years in 2007 and would continue in office unless they resigned. Cllr Urwin indicated that she wished to stand down as a representative on the Ringwood United Charities. All other members indicated their willingness to continue with their present roles.

RESOLVED:

1) That Cllr Wiseman be appointed to the Ringwood Society

2) Cllr Urwin be replaced on the Ringwood United Charities group by Cllr Mrs Terry

3) That the vacancy which had arisen on the Ringwood Twinning Association to replace the late Cllr M F J Daly be left unfilled until after the vacancies on Council had been filled

4) That the updated list of representatives on outside bodies be as shown at Annex ‘A’

C/4822 Membership of Committees

Members considered the appointment of members to standing committees.

Standing Orders provide for Councillors to be appointed for a four year period (2007 to 2011) subject to amendments being possible at each Annual Meeting. Initially the Council restricted membership of committees to eight, including the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. However, following a previous casual vacancy, membership of the Planning, Town & Environment Committee and Recreation and Leisure & Open Spaces Committee was increased to nine.

No members wished to relinquish membership of the Planning, Town and Environment Committee or the Recreation, Leisure and Open Spaces Committee and there were vacancies on each committee. No member wished to be appointed, and the vacancies will be available to newly appointed councillors following the forthcoming elections.
.
RESOLVED:

1) That the vacancies on both the Planning, Town and Environment Committee and Recreation, Leisure and Open Spaces Committee be held open pending the election of two new councillors

C/4823 Minutes of Previous Meeting

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Meeting held on 30th April 2008, having been circulated, be approved and signed as a correct record.

C/4824 Representations from members of the Public

There were none.

C/4825 Communications to be Received

The Town Mayor referred Councillors to communications received regarding tendering of local bus services. The paragraph referring to services 136 and 137 which operate between Ringwood and Poulner represents a disgraceful abandonment of public transport users in Ringwood. The Town Council’s suggestions that arrangements be made to link into services for other areas appear to have been ignored. Other areas of Hampshire appear to have a higher priority for assessment and action than Ringwood.

Cllr Ford (as New Forest District Councillor) reported that disabled bus holders would shortly be able to use their bus passes during peak as well as off-peak times.

Cllr Clarke as a County Councillor indicated he would take the matter further to Hampshire County Council but cannot guarantee a positive outcome.

Cllr Heron commented that subsidies for the bus service have not increased for 10 years.

RESOLVED: That the Mayor’s intention to make further representations to Hampshire County Council to improve local bus services be supported

On Sunday 2 May, the Chairman of the District Council formally opened Ringwood’s 2008 bowls season with the annual match between Ringwood as the New Forest Bowling Champions and the New Forest Bowling Association.

C/4826 Questions of the Town Mayor

Cllr Heron asked the Mayor if he was aware that the Shake dance team from Ringwood appeared recently at the London Palladium. The Mayor responded that he was not aware of the performance but congratulated participants on their achievements.

Cllr Steele reported that the Passenger Transport Forum is meeting in May and asked the Mayor if members would let him have details of any cases of hardship resulting from lack of bus services as soon as possible, for this meeting. The Mayor confirmed he supported this request.

C/4827 Reports from County and District Councillors

Members received District Councillor Ford’s written report (Annex B) and oral reports from District Councillor Rippon-Swaine and County Councillor Clarke.

C/4828 Adjournment of Meeting

At 7.35pm it was

RESOLVED: to adjourn the meeting until the end of the individual committee meetings.

On resumption of the meeting at 7.45pm:

C/4829 Appointment of Members to the Policy & Finance Committee

Meetings of the Planning, Town & Environment Committee and the Recreation, Leisure & Open Spaces Committee had been held during the adjournment. The Chairman of each committee had been re-elected for a further year and automatically appointed to the Policy & Finance Committee.

No member wished to relinquish membership of the Policy & Finance Committee.

RESOLVED:

1) That Cllr Urwin be appointed to the Policy & Finance Committee and one vacancy remain open

2) That the updated list of membership of committees be noted (Annex ‘C’)

C/4830 Forthcoming Meetings

There being no further business, the Town Mayor closed the meeting at 7.50pm