Chairman of the council

The Chairman of the Council is the council's civic head and the first citizen of the New Forest. The current chairman is Cllr John Sleep.

Biography

John was born in the New Forest at The Fenwick Hospital Lyndhurst and lived for the first 28 years of his life in Testwood, Totton. Attending the local schools, through to starting an Esso apprenticeship, as a Mechanical Engineer, continuing his college education during that time.

With an aptitude for design draughting he became a self-employed Agency Draughtsman, mainly Petrochemical Design Engineering. He started his own company, with two partners, in Rumbridge Street Totton, covering Mechanical, Piping, Civil and Instrument design work.

They expanded and moved to three offices along Salisbury Road, Totton. Over twenty years they became an Agency employing up to forty draughtsmen, stress engineers, civil engineers, in their offices, or on various sites, working on industries both sides of the river. Shell BP Hamble, Calshot Power Station, Fawley Refinery and companies feeding from refinery products. Finally working back in the Refinery drawing offices, working on development, or turnaround engineering, on all the units on site until his retirement in 2010.

He has a record of raising money for local charities, schools, football teams, sailing clubs etc, who are not supported nationally, being for 9 years the New Forest Group rep for a local charity, supporting Hampshire causes.

He and his wife have been living on Ringwood Road, Totton since 1975. Residing in the same house, where they raised two boys, both passing through local schools and universities. The eldest retiring as an infantry Captain (PWRR) through injuries sustained in Iraq.

After his own discharge he took on a further role in the MOD, to manage and support wounded, injured and sick (WIS) soldiers through their own recovery, after the conflicts at that time. He now works in the insurance industry, lives locally with his wife and their young Granddaughter. His youngest son also lives locally and works in the specialist section of oil spill and chemical spillage response world-wide.

Having been retired for a while, John wanted to put more back into the community that he had watched, over the years, growing from a Village into a Town. A Parish vacancy was available, and he was grateful, on being elected, to be able to represent his community during continuing expansion.

The opportunity to increase his input into our whole District development came up and once again, after being elected, he was proud to represent a thriving District Council.

John feels that we have much work ahead of us, over the future years with exciting Industrial growth. Along with that growth he wants to keep our towns and villages expanding, to give our children and families the opportunity to join us, on this journey to a prosperous future, in this beautiful part of our country.

John is proud to have the chance to represent the Council and our community as Chairman for 2025 - 26 and he will do his best to promote our Towns, villages, communities and our beautiful countryside wherever he is given the chance to do so.

The role of the Chairman

District councils are required by law to elect a chairman each year by all members of the council. The Chairman of the Council will not necessarily be a member of the majority political group on the council. As the chair of Full Council meetings, he or she is expected to be completely impartial in this role.

The Chairman is the council's civic head and, as the first citizen of the district, takes precedence within the district over everyone except Their Majesties The King and Queen, or Their representative (usually the Lord Lieutenant of the County of Hampshire). At events arranged by or on land owned by Hampshire County Council, the Chairman of the County Council takes precedence.

As the council's civic head, the Chairman's duties include:

• welcoming members of the Royal Family when they visit the district
• receiving dignitaries and other visitors
• hosting civic functions
• attending numerous local events, large and small.

The Vice-Chairman can deputise for the Chairman and performs similar duties.

Find out more about the Chairman's engagements.

The Chairman's chosen charities

Cllr Sleep will be supporting the Solent Mind and Youth & Family Matters during his year in office.

If you are interested in helping to raise funds for the Chairman's charities, contact:

Sue Jennings
Business Support Officer
Email: chairman@newforest.gov.uk