While we all want to serve the New Forest to the best of our ability, we all have different opinions and those should be shared.

I attended my first cabinet meeting at New Forest District Council this morning along with the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor David Harrison.

There were three items on the agenda: the recent peer review of New Forest District Council, the proposed Electoral Review of Ward boundaries, and the appointments to outside bodies.

David and I both spoke out against the findings of the peer review, conducted by another Conservative-run authority.

David made the case that having a fellow Conservative-run authority assess how the Council is doing is a bit like “marking your own homework” especially when the report neglected to mention the £1.2 million overspend on replacing Beach Huts at Milford on Sea.

This led to a heated exchange in the council chamber with Conservative cabinet members angry at David’s comments.

I called for calm and clarified that “while we all want to serve the new forest to the best of our ability, everybody has different opinions and those should be aired”.

That brought an end to the debate and we swiftly moved on to hear about the proposed electoral review which is due to commence soon as well as the appointments to outside bodies.

Overall, it was a brief but fiery first cabinet meeting.

(PHOTO IS BEFORE IT GOT BUSY)