THERE are no victors yet in Barton’s Battle of Long Meadow.

Instead New Milton Town Council is to arrange a round table meeting next week in a bid to hammer out a treaty between the Friends of Long Meadow, which is against council plans for a children’s play area, and the Long Meadow For Kids Support Group.

Representing the friends will be Janey Thompson and Toby Woolfe, while Deborah Cummings and Keith Ellis will speak in favour of using part of the meadow for children’s play.

Also attending will be the three members of the town council working party, amenities committee chairman Cllr Goff Beck, Cllr Alan O’Sullivan and Cllr David Rice-Mundy, plus either New Forest District Council open spaces co-ordinator Jill Colclough or its head of communities and employment Martin Devine.

More than 60 people crowded into the town council chamber for the amenities committee meeting on Tuesday and heard friends’ representative Rod England call for the start of new consultations.

Cllr Beck outlined the suggestion for talks between the opposing side and said: “We hope that their input will arrive at an agreeable solution which we will put to the full council in due course.”

Mr England later welcomed the talks but said representatives from both sides will discuss the issues before meeting with the council.

“We are all reasonable people at the end of the day.

“I think it’s the council that has been unreasonable. I’m happy that the council has moved in the right direction,” he said.

Stuart Press, whose son Ellis has spoken up for the children of the area, was unhappy that a decision had not been made by the council and was “riled” by the idea of talks.

“It’s like having a row at school, ‘Come into the headmaster’s office and we’ll sort it out’,” he said.

Deborah Cummings said that before meeting with the friends she would contact the support group members in order to “get a collective opinion to ensure they are represented correctly”.

“I absolutely welcome the meetings that the council have endorsed.”