What does the future of local government look like in Hart
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has opened a consultation on the proposal to form a Mayoral Combined County Authority for the local government areas of Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight. The survey is available until 11.59pm on Sunday 13 April at www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hampshire-and-the-solent-devolution
In December 2024 the Government published their English Devolution White Paper. This proposes creating new Strategic Authorities alongside local government reorganisation.
The Government long-term vision is to simplify how councils are organised and run and who provides your services. Devolution will create Strategic Authorities, to provide strong leadership for their areas on issues including housing, highways and transport, economic growth, skills, environment and climate change, health and public safety.
Alongside this, local government organisation will create unitary authorities that operate most day-to-day services currently delivered by the county and district councils.
On 6 February 2025, the Government announced that Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils and Isle of Wight Council had been successful in their joint bid for inclusion on the Government's fast-track Devolution Priority Programme.
The Government has agreed to bring together the Hampshire and Isle of Wight areas to form the Hampshire and Solent Combined Authority. A regional Mayor will be elected in May 2026 to lead this new Strategic Authority for the area. The Mayor will focus on boosting local economic growth, planning, infrastructure, transport, and other important issues. As part of this process, elections for Hampshire County Council originally scheduled for May 2025, will be postponed to May 2026.
The Government has also invited all councils in Hampshire to consider options to replace the current two-tier council system with several new unitary councils. This invitation is part of a wider effort to simplify and make local government more sustainable. An interim plan needs to be submitted by the end of March, and the final proposal needs to be with the government by September. If approved, the government will move quickly to establish new unitary councils, with elections for shadow councils as soon as possible.
At the moment, nothing is changing for Hart. We’ll continue to provide all the services you receive from us. After local government reorganisation, you’ll receive all the services you do now, but from a new unitary council.
Proposals for local government reorganisation need to be submitted to Government by autumn 2025. We will update you when we have clearer ideas of what the new authorities for Hart and Hampshire could look like.
The timelines for devolution and local government organisation could shift as more information becomes available. The dates that have been outlined so far are: