Ringwood, Hampshire and Town Councils
Ringwood is a town in Hampshire
Ringwood is a town in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, west of the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. The town was traditionally an agricultural centre but, since the closure of its cattle market in 1989, it has increasingly become a dormitory town.
The BBC television comedy series "The Brittas Empire" was filmed at Ringwood Health and Leisure Centre.
Ringwood is the home of the Ringwood Brewery, which produces a variety of cask ales and runs five pubs in the local area, such as the Inn on the Furlong in Ringwood. Ringwood brewery also produces a variety of wines. It was recently taken over by Marston's Brewery, who plan to keep the brewery and all its brands, but lease out its tied public houses.
Nearby, Matchams Leisure Park is known for various forms of motor sport including motocross, go-karting and stock car racing. At the start of December 2008, Matchams hit national and international news after a Christmas-themed family park was found to be drastically different from what had been offered, scamming people out of up to thousands of pounds, and receiving over 20,000 complaints
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom, notable especially for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It borders Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey, and West Sussex. It has an area of 3,700 square kilometres (1,400 sq mi), with its widest points being approximately 86 kilometres (53 mi) east–west and 76 kilometres (47 mi) north–south. In addition to its official name, Hampshire is sometimes historically referred to as Southamptonshire, Hamptonshire, and the County of Southampton.
Today, Hampshire is a popular holiday area. Its tourist attractions include many seaside resorts, the motor museum at Beaulieu, with national parks in both New Forest and the South Downs. Hampshire has a long maritime history and two of England's largest ports, Southampton and Portsmouth, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of such writers as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. The county town is Winchester. Town Councils - A town council is a democratically elected form of government for small municipalities or civil parishes. A council may serve as both the representative and executive branch.
Depending upon local laws and regulations, town councils usually self-organize and elect a leader to set the agenda of their governing body. This leader may be granted a title such as chairman, mayor, or president.
In England, town councils are civil parish councils, where the civil parish has declared itself to be a town. Civil parishes are the most local level of elected governance, under the district, unitary or county level.
Any parish can decide to describe itself as a town. The chairman of a town council is called a town mayor. The term 'town mayor' is used as opposed to simply 'mayor', which means the mayor of a borough or a city. However, this is often abbreviated simply to mayor, especially where the town was historically a borough or city, such as Lewes or Ely.