I attended the Annual Council meeting tonight, one of the last ones before New Forest District Council is abolished in favour of the proposed new “Super Council”.

I have attended these meetings for over two decades. They are largely ceremonial and heavily scripted, having agreed well beforehand which members will take the position of Chairmanship, Vice Chairmanship and Committee places.

Totton Councillor, John Sleep, handed on the Chairman’s Chain of Office to fellow Totton Councillor, Dave Penny.

It was a very smooth meeting and a little different in one respect…. the first time in 20 odd years that the Conservatives supported Liberal Democrat nominations for Chair and vice chair of a few scrutiny committees.

It was more a recognition of them yielding from a much weakened position rather than an act of generosity. Most Council’s recognise that a proper balance is achieved when the ruling party hold Executive power and scrutiny is led by the opposition.

Decision making is enhanced when policies and proposals are robustly challenged. This was never the case when the Conservatives dominated both the Executive and the Scrutiny function.

It explains why they often failed to deliver anything like enough housing, give adequate support to those in poverty, took any interest in public transport, have had such bad relationships with Town & parish Councils and suffered such internal squabbling and resignations.

Whilst I firmly favour keeping the New Forest together, there are aspects of the District Council that I won’t miss. It’s also important to think of the staff and how all the uncertainty of local government reorganisation impacts on them.