Local Voices Matter – A Better Way to Reorganise Local Government
Joint statement by Eastleigh Borough Council, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Fareham Borough Council, Hart District Council, Havant Borough Council, Isle of Wight Council, New Forest District Council, Portsmouth City Council, Rushmoor Borough Council, Southampton City Council, Test Valley Borough Council and Winchester City Council.
Hampshire County Council has now published its recommended proposal for local government reorganisation, which includes just three, large-scale, councils across the mainland.
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.
- Biggest doesn’t mean best
Services like social care and special educational needs are already under severe financial pressure. Proposing three large councils won’t fix that. Those services need to be transformed. 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 four mainland unitary authorities with one on the Isle of Wight that are:- 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.
- 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. 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 and 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.
Leader of Test Valley Borough Council, Councillor Phil North, said: “We need to take this opportunity to create local authorities that make sense to local people. The idea of the whole of Test Valley going into the city of Southampton is not supported by our residents and it’s not what Southampton want either. Our borough is made up of smaller towns, villages and rural communities. They need a local council that understands their needs.
“The vast majority of the councils in Hampshire and the Solent believe, however, that there is a better way, and that we can improve things by taking the opportunity to establish four mainland unitary councils focussed on prevention and transforming services rather than doing more of the same. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss, and it needs councils of the right size and makeup to truly innovate and make them more effective and efficient.”
We launched a survey on our four mainland unitary options earlier this month, and we would urge everyone to share their views on our proposals at ourplaceourfuture.commonplace.is/