Notice is hereby given that a casual vacancy has occurred in the office of Councillor for the Milton Ward of New Milton Town Council.

If you are interested in becoming a co-opted Councillor for the central Milton Ward, please contact the Town Clerk on 01425 619120 for further details or contact us via our online form.

Meeting dates for the 2014/2015 council year are now available on-line via the meeting dates link.

New Milton Town Council wishes residents a Happy New Year!

Local people are being urged to show their support for sporting excellence in the New Forest. The New Forest Sports Awards 2014 is open for nominations until Monday 6 January 2014.

The annual awards are organised by the New Forest Sport and Physical Activity Alliance (SPAA), and aims to reward and recognise commitment, performance and excellence across all sports. The wide range of categories ensures that as well as elite performers, recognition is given to teams, clubs, coaches, officials and volunteers who work tirelessly behind the scenes.

In addition, the Outstanding Personal Achievement Award recognises inspirational endeavour on the part of a participant, coach or volunteer who has overcome adversity to make an outstanding individual achievement in their chosen sport.

Councillor Di Brooks, New Forest District Council’s portfolio holder for health and leisure, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for people to show their support for sporting excellence in the New Forest. We have many talented sportspeople in the district who deserve to be recognised, and I would urge people to put forward their nominations.”

The categories include:

• Club of the Year

• Coach of the Year
• Junior & Senior Sportsman & Sportswoman of the Year
• Junior & Senior Disability Sportsperson of the Year
• Master Sportsperson of the Year
• Outstanding Personal Achievement of the Year
• Junior & Senior Team of the Year
• Junior & Senior Volunteer of the Year
• Official of the Year
• Service to Sport

Nomination forms for the New Forest Sports Awards can be downloaded from the council’s website newforest.gov.uk by searching ‘New Forest Sports Awards’ or by calling 023 8028 5000.

Winners will be put forward to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Sports Awards 2014, which takes place in April.

Cllr Paul Woods has taken some photos of the recent New Milton Christmas Festival. We hope you enjoyed the festivities!

View the photo gallery

This winter New Forest District Council are offering free parking for Small Business Saturday on December 7th and also this coming Saturday 30th November there will be free afternoon car parking in New Milton to support the New Milton Christmas Festival.

Parking clocks are also available for purchase for the 2014 season. Parking clocks are available to purchase online at newforest.gov.uk/parkingclock. The price of parking clocks and meter charges will remain unchanged for the third year in a row.

This really exciting structure has just appeared on the Rec, and getting it here is an amazing achievement for New Milton Town Council and we are very proud of it. Without doubt, it will become a real talking point in the town, and the important thing is to celebrate the fact that the pavilion has arrived.

“Here it is – isn’t it amazing. Credit to all those who made it happen. The main launch event will be held at the start of the summer season in 2014…further details to follow”

- Cllr Neil Tungate

Read our press release

With thanks to Kate Maddison (Chrysalis Arts) and Michael Angus for their photos.

Credit also to the following involved with the construction:

• Pavilion Designer: Chrysalis Arts
• Pavilion Fabricator: Chris Brammall Ltd
• Landscape Design and Project Management: New Forest District Council
• Landscape Contractor: The Landscape Group
• Electrical Contractor: Faradays Electrical Ltd

Additional Fire Service strike action has been announced for this Wednesday (10:00am-14:00pm). We urge residents to take extra care and only dial 999 in a genuine emergency.