A couple of weeks ago, the government made a surprise announcement that all planned Local Government Re-organisation (LGR) proposals were at least paused. In Hampshire (alongside those in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk) the proposals were withdrawn.
The proposals for LGR in Hampshire would have meant that all the existing district and borough councils, Hampshire County Council, and Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils would have been abolished and replaced with four large unitary councils – Mid Hampshire, North Hampshire, South East Hampshire and South West Hampshire. (Unitary councils are single tier local authorities like Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight currently are.)
With the proposals for Hampshire withdrawn and a general pause in place, which the government has said is based on legal advice, what do we know for certain from what the government has said?
We know that any scheduled elections to our existing authorities in Hampshire will take place as usual in 2027 (so there will be elections for New Forest, Test Valley, Winchester, Eastleigh, Basingstoke & Deane, Hart, Rushmoor, East Hampshire, Havant, Southampton and Portsmouth Councils; Hampshire County Council and Fareham and Gosport Councils don’t have any scheduled elections next year) rather than, as the proposals have now been withdrawn, elections to any new authorities as was going to be the case until the government’s LGR announcement.
We also know that the government are still committed to LGR, as stated by the Local Government Secretary of State, Angela Rayner, in the House of Commons and in correspondence to local authorities.
The government has also been clear that this will have no effect on Devolution, that is the creation and operation of Strategic Authorities. Hampshire & The Solent Combined County Authority has been in operation for a few months now so its operation is unaffected by this decision on LGR.
There is also going to be what has been termed a ‘rapid review’ of the LGR process, looking at both the criteria for the creation of new authorities and the application of that criteria which is going to involve local stakeholder engagement (which would include statutory and non-statutory organisations, including the VCSE sector) and that is projected to start as soon as possible. Though it is not clear when that might be, it could be as early as next month.
For the VCSE sector then, this means that your existing local authorities will continue until further notice and the proposed new authorities, with the connected abolition of existing authorities, now will not happen in April 2028. This means your relationships with those existing authorities and their responsibilities for grants and contracts will continue until further notice. And those grants and contracts will be given out for existing authority footprints.
It also means that VCSE organisations will have another opportunity to have their say on any future consultation on LGR, including any future proposals.
Action Hampshire will keep you up to date on any developments we are informed of so watch this space.
