Test Valley's top politician expresses shock over plans for super council

Will the county be spilt with the creation of a powerful Solent City, including Southampton and Portsmouth, or is the latest controversial proposal for a huge "super council" for Hampshire the way forward?

Now Test Valley’s top politician has waded into the debate and come out against Hampshire County Council leader Roy Perry's bid to create one massive local authority.

Ian Carr, the leader of Test Valley Borough Council has said the county council leader’s proposals to create a large Hampshire-wide council, incorporating Test Valley, has “come as a bombshell”.

Last week Cllr Perry announced that a new report by consultants Deloitte, commissioned by the county council, spelled out six options for how Hampshire could be governed in the future.

They included creating one huge council for the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, including Southampton; creating a unitary council but excluding Southampton and Portsmouth; and creating four or five new unitary councils to cover the "Greater Southampton", "Greater Portsmouth", "North Hampshire", "Central Hampshire" and Isle of Wight areas.

The report says the changes could save tens of millions of pounds every year, as well as reducing council tax bills for residents.

However the plans were attacked by the leaders of the Solent group which remains in discussions with the Government about its devolution deal.

Seven leaders representing its southern areas hit back in the latest round of a long-running battle sparked by the Government's decision to negotiate a devolution deal with the Solent region, as opposed to the whole of Hampshire.

If agreed this summer it could see £30m extra funding given to the region each year as well as greater responsibility for areas such as transport, skills and housing.

A second devolution bid has been handed in to Government which could see Winchester, New Forest, Test Valley, Rushmoor and Basingstoke and Deane form a "Heart of Hampshire" combined authority.

Both new combined authorities would have directly-elected mayors.

Speaking while on holiday, Cllr Carr told the Advertiser he didn’t agree with Cllr Perry’s plans.

“It has come as a bombshell to all district leaders, especially after so much talk about how good joint working was in Hampshire.

“I am not sure where we go from here but you can be assured that there will be plenty of meetings.”

Romsey MP, Caroline Nokes has backed her father, Cllr Perry.

“I certainly agree with Deloitte’s appraisal of the current situation concerning Local Government in Hampshire. Many people have raised serious concerns with me regarding the establishment of a Solent City, that would threaten to swallow up Romsey and the surrounding areas.

“But generally the reaction has been positive towards the consultation announced last week by Hampshire County Council, which is asking local people what they want.

“I think we have to look very seriously at how councils can be run more efficiently to save taxpayers money, and this consultation is part of that picture.

“At least with this proposal people are being given a say, rather than finding they have been put in a giant urban conurbation without so much as an opportunity to express their views."

Last week Cllr Perry said: “Our priority has been, and always will be, serving the best interests of all Hampshire residents. We have thought long and hard about the devolution negotiations with Government – and the two current combined authority proposals covering the Hampshire and Isle of Wight area: Solent and Heart of Hampshire.

"Unfortunately, these proposals devolve very few powers down from central government but would transfer, and therefore split, some of the county’s key services such as highways and transport. They don’t bring greater clarity or efficiencies. They add a new layer of local government and additional costs and will inevitably disrupt high-quality countywide services.

"The county council has painstakingly built over many years a range of services, especially in the protection of vulnerable adults and children that are the envy of the country. I cannot accept that these should be broken up in this way, for these reasons. I would far rather lose the county council as we know it, and establish a new ‘Hampshire Council’ than threaten those services."

The leaders of Southampton, Portsmouth, Fareham, Eastleigh, Gosport, East Hampshire and Havant councils have issued a joint statement responding to Cllr Perry's announcement.

In it, the seven leaders say the plans "amount to localism in reverse", adding: "it exceeds the Government's own standards for scale and manageability, is a clear threat to town and parish councils and would further distance our populations from the services they and their communities rely on.

“Rather than creating a large and unwieldy council for the whole county area we would prefer to look at bringing existing councils together to work closely to improve outcomes for local people and bring extra powers and resources for the area - as being explored in plans for both the Solent and Heart of Hampshire combined authorities (which between them cover the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight).”

The options

‘SOLENT City’ would be Southampton, Portsmouth, Eastleigh, Fareham, Gosport, Havant and East Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight.

‘Heart of Hampshire’ covers: Winchester, Test Valley, New Forest, Basingstoke and Deane, Hart and Rushmoor.

Option A: Hampshire, cities and the Isle of Wight. This option creates one new council covering all services for the whole area;

Option B: County and cities. This is similar to option A except that IoW remains a separate unitary authority;.

Option C: County and IoW. This option is a merger of the county council with the district councils and the IoW. Southampton and Portsmouth remain separate;

Option D: Hampshire unitary minus Isle of Wight, Southampton and Portsmouth;

Option E: Two unitary councils. One part Hampshire County Council, Southampton, Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham, IoW, Eastleigh, Havant and East Hampshire councils forming a ‘Solent’ Unitary Authority. Part Hampshire County Council, Winchester, Basingstoke and Deane, Hart, New Forest, Rushmoor, Test Valley forming a ‘non-Solent’ Unitary Authority;

Option F: Four unitary councils: Greater Southampton (Southampton, New Forest, Eastleigh), Greater Portsmouth (Portsmouth, Fareham, Gosport and Havant), North Hampshire (Winchester, Basingstoke, East Hants, Hart, Rushmoor, Test Valley) and IoW;

Option G: Five unitary councils. Greater Southampton, Greater Portsmouth, Isle of Wight, central Hampshire (Test Valley, Winchester and east Hampshire) and North Hampshire (Basingstoke, Hart and Rushmoor).