I listened to the Cabinet meeting at New Forest District Council.

The meeting adjourned at one stage because the Tory Leader, Jill Cleary, broke down in tears. There is no doubting the raw emotion that the abolition of the District Council and particularly the splitting of the New Forest has caused.

As anticipated, they have accepted the advice of lawyers and officers that pursuing a Judicial Review of the Government’s decision to split the New Forest into two areas for governance purposes would simply fail.

This makes it much more likely that the changes will indeed go ahead, much to the anger and distress of most of the people that live here. None of the Councillors who spoke at the meeting were at all happy but there was an acknowledgement that the Labour Government has the necessary power to impose this upon us.

Some people will be confused by the fact that Hampshire County Council are still pursuing the possibility of a Judicial Review. The reason behind this is that the County Council can argue that all of the options for reorganising Hampshire’s governance are not financially sustainable except for the model they put forward (which was not chosen).

Importantly, even in the seemingly unlikely event Hampshire County Council succeed in a Judicial Review, it wouldn’t follow that the New Forest would stay together.

So far, New Forest District Council has spent £12,000 on seeking legal advice in order to get to this point. If Hampshire County Council take this matter to a Judicial Review the costs are likely to exceed £500,000.

(picture – Lib Dem Councillor, Phil Dowd reminding the meeting that this was all started by the Conservatives at Hampshire deciding to accept the Government offer of a “Fast Track” to Local Government Reorganisation.)