The following statement is in response to Hampshire County Council’s proposals for local government reorganisation which would see three large-scale councils across the county providing all local services.
Hampshire County Council has published its case for a future of only three, large-scale, councils across the county.
Their proposal risks creating remote, oversized councils, cut off from the places and people they serve. Our communities deserve better.
Here’s what the 12 councils working together across Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight believe:
- Local people should shape local decisions. Making councils bigger makes it harder for residents to influence decisions that affect their daily lives, like school places, adult social care, housing and transport
- Biggest doesn’t mean best. Services like social care and special educational needs are already under pressure. Proposing three large councils won’t fix that. The evidence shows that larger public authorities don’t guarantee better services, and they often feel more distant and harder to access for local people
- There’s a better way. The councils working together across Hampshire and the Solent are putting forward proposals for five unitary authorities (four on the mainland and one; the Isle of Wight) that are:
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- Large enough to succeed, with the capacity to deliver joined-up services and value for money
- Small enough to care, rooted in real places and responsive to the communities they serve
Smaller councils already prove this can work. They deliver high-performing services like waste collection, housing, and local regeneration. They respond quickly to local needs, support diverse communities, and work closely with local businesses, schools and voluntary groups. This isn’t theory, it’s how we work every day.
We already work together at scale when it makes sense; like through Project Integra, our long-standing waste partnership across Hampshire. We collaborate to save money and improve services, without losing the local accountability and flexibility our communities value.
Local identity should count. Real communities are shaped around sense of place and how people actually live, where they travel, learn, work and access services. This is why we are asking people to tell us about these things and share their views on our three options.
Crucially, Hampshire County Council’s own research shows people feel most connected to their immediate neighbourhoods, not large remote councils, and that many fear LGR will reduce their sense of local identity, weaken local representation, and make services harder to access. For the services people rely on every day, like roads and travel, local understanding matters. A single, county-wide approach can’t reflect the needs of such a diverse area. Our proposed model allows services to be designed and delivered around real communities, not a one-size-fits-all system.
Local democracy needs more than ‘token localism’ HCC’s plan for district area panels and locality teams within super-sized councils isn’t enough risks creating powerless talking shops. Communities need genuine decision-making power at neighbourhood level, with frontline councillors supported to lead and shape local priorities.
We are committed to creating councils that are simpler, stronger and more local, not just bigger. And we will continue working together to build a future that reflects the people and places of Hampshire and the Solent.
Councillor Gareth Williams, Leader of Rushmoor Borough Council, said:
"Our residents must be able to receive the services that work for them from a council that is local enough to respond to their needs and to understand and protect the unique identities of Aldershot and Farnborough.
"Rushmoor already suffers from the remoteness of Hampshire County Council operating from 35 miles away in Winchester and these proposals would mean large councils covering in excess of 650,000 people.
"I fail to see how that would offer better local services or understand and protect our local identity.
"We have been working closely with 11 of the 15 other councils in Hampshire since the government announced its intentions to identify options that we believe would offer the strongest and best options for our residents.
"For our area, this would be a council serving Rushmoor and our near neighbours in Hart and Basingstoke and Deane, which we firmly believe would be large enough to deliver good services, but local enough still to understand our communities and their needs."
We want to hear from as many people as possible on your priorities so to give your views on your local area please complete our north Hampshire survey and you can also give your views on the wider Hampshire area.
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