East Hampshire District Council Leader, Cllr Richard Millard, has made it clear he won’t back a unitary partnership without solid evidence— dismissing speculation as being “as nonsensical as suggesting we merge with Ibiza and Benidorm.”
He stressed that decisions about Hampshire’s future must be based on facts, not guesswork, to ensure the best outcome for residents.
His comments came after EHDC published an interim proposal for local government reorganisation that will be considered by councillors on Monday 17th March.
This report is the culmination of a series of meetings between council Leaders and Chief Executives of the 14 other councils in Hampshire and it represents a consensus approach.
It has been supported by consultants KPMG and forms Hampshire's interim proposal for local government reorganisation that must be submitted to central government by 21st March. All other Hampshire councils will also be considering this interim proposal before this deadline.
Cllr Millard said: “The interim report does not set out a preferred option for the unitary structures. It does not even say how many unitary authorities there should be. And it certainly doesn’t say who should go with who.
“It doesn’t say these things because we do not have the detailed evidence to inform our decision-making at this stage.
“Therefore, any recommendations or opinions being announced by other leaders are based on nothing other than desire – which is as nonsensical as suggesting we merge with Ibiza or Benidorm.
“I will make decisions based on fact, data, evidence and numbers. This is my duty because I am doing what’s best for residents. And by residents, I do not just mean the current residents of East Hants but all the residents in Hampshire who will be receiving their services from new unitary councils.
“It’s not every day that we have an opportunity to shape how all council services will operate across the whole of Hampshire. We have his opportunity now and we must not let opinion guide our decision-making. This would be doing our residents a huge disservice.
“We must work together to create financially sustainable and resilient services that meet the needs of our communities.
“It’s not about what individual leaders want, it is about what Hampshire needs.
“The only way to do that is to analyse the data and to interrogate it with forensic analysis. Only then can we draw conclusions.
“This is not about individual councils. This is bigger than that - it is about creating strong and stable councils for our residents. And I am 100% committed to that.”
For more information about local government reorganisation and devolution