Cllr Richard Millard, Leader of East Hampshire District Council, says that EHDC will work with other local authorities in Hampshire to ensure that devolution and local government reorganisation are in the best interests of residents and businesses in the district.
An announcement was made today that the Hampshire area will be on the government’s fast-track devolution programme.
This leads on from the government’s white paper which was published in December and states that local government needs to create strategic authorities which enable more control over decisions locally.
There will be one large strategic authority for the whole of Hampshire with an elected mayor – and this would have greater control of things like planning transport, economic growth, skills and infrastructure investment.
The white paper also outlines that areas which have ‘two tiers’ of local authorities (a county and a district council) need to create unitary authorities.
This means that EHDC will need to join forces with other councils to create a larger unitary council which will provide current services as well as those which are currently run by the county council like adult social care, children’s services and highway maintenance.
Being part of the fast-track programme means that draft proposals for both the strategic authority and unitaries must be submitted by the end of March, with detailed proposals developed by this autumn.
Cllr Millard said: “I am 100% focused on the residents and businesses of East Hampshire.
“So I will work with other councils to ensure that we get the best possible outcome for them. My discussions will focus entirely on our residents and our businesses.
“Taking the fast-track approach to devolution makes sense because we want this transition to be as quick as possible so we can set up the new structures at pace and get on with delivering top quality services for our residents.
“Our officers are also a priority for us and they are some of the very best in the country with huge experience, skills and knowledge and we will work with them so that they are in the prime position for roles in the new unitaries.
“We will be taking time to understand the next steps following this fast-track announcement and what this will mean for us. We will of course keep residents regularly updated on what happens next.”