Rushmoor Borough Council is running a consultation asking residents if they’d like parish councils or neighbourhood areas committees set up – and, if so, what services they should run.
In addition to inviting people to give their views in an online survey, a series of drop in events will also be held where residents can chat to representatives from Rushmoor Borough Council about the consultation.
The next drop in event will take place at Princes Gardens, Aldershot, this Saturday (15 November) from 12.30pm to 3.30pm.
Future drop in events will take place on Thursday 20 November, at the Wellington shopping centre in Aldershot, between 11am and 2pm, and on Saturday 22 November at Queensmead/The Landing in Farnborough, between 11.30am and 2.30pm.
The council backed proposals submitted to Government in September to see a new north Hampshire unitary council that would provide all the services run by Hampshire County Council locally, as well as those of Rushmoor, Hart and Basingstoke and Deane councils. Because any new unitary council would cover a wider area than the current Borough council, the council is now considering what local arrangements should be put in place to make sure that residents' voices are heard on local decisions before the new unitary is set up.
In the first part of a public consultation in the summer, the council found there was support for having either parish councils or neighbourhood area committees (which have fewer powers than parish councils).
Now the council is asking people who live and work locally for their views on whether parish councils should be set up in Aldershot and Farnborough and, if so, what services they should run.
It is also asking what would be a reasonable annual charge that people would be willing to pay for their local parish council.
The alternative to creating a parish council could be that local decisions are delegated to neighbourhood area committees, consisting of councillors elected to the authority for a specific area, such as Aldershot or Farnborough. This would not result in a separate annual charge. Any decision on setting up such a committee will be made by the new unitary authority.
The Leader of Rushmoor Borough Council, Councillor Gareth Williams, said: “Feedback from people who live and work in the area is vital - so I would encourage everyone to take the survey to tell us how they feel about the setting up of parish councils or neighbourhood area committees.”
The survey can be found on our Your community, your say page.
The deadline for responses is midnight on Friday 28 November.
If plans for parish councils are given the go ahead, any new arrangements would be put in place before the wider local government reorganisation, which is due to come into effect from 1 April, 2028.
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