City housing need behind council mergers, says leader

A council is to go ahead with a legal challenge to the government's planned redrawing of local authority boundaries in Hampshire.

The county council says it has not been given a "full and transparent explanation" why the government opted for four mainland councils and will proceed with a judicial review.

Leader, Nick Adams-King has accused the government of taking "significant housing sites from rural Hampshire so that it can help meet the housing shortfalls of the cities".

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has previously said "reorganisation will speed up the construction of new homes and infrastructure, improve public services and boost regional growth".

New Forest District Council opted not to launch a judicial review after independent legal advice said it was unlikely to be successful.

But Hampshire has said its legal advice is different and the costs of legal action is worth it.

Adams-King said: "A flawed and financially unsustainable structure could cost Hampshire's council taxpayers tens, if not hundreds, of millions of pounds over the next decade.

"We therefore have a duty to hold the government to account and establish whether the decision was transparent, properly reasoned, supported by the evidence and informed by the professional advice provided."

Under the four mainland council option, named 1A, certain parishes on the New Forest Waterside and north of Southampton are taken from New Forest and Test Valley and become part of the new South West Hampshire council.

A few parishes, including Horndean and Rowlands Castle, currently in Winchester and East Hampshire become part of South East Hampshire.

Hampshire County Council's argument for three mainland councils was that a mid-Hampshire rural authority would be financially unsustainable due to

• An older population with increasing social care demands
• A rural geography with miles of roads to maintain
• Higher costs for delivering services including small rural schools, social care and school transport
• A weaker economic tax base with less industry

Conservative Adams-King said he was also concerned that about government housing targets for Mid Hampshire.

"It is a politically driven redrawing of boundaries which benefits Labour and Liberal Democrat led urban authorities while leaving rural Hampshire facing even greater development pressure," he added.

Councillor Sarah Bogle, Labour leader of Southampton City Council, disagreed the choice to opt for 1A was about party politics and said it was about economics, travel to work and leisure areas and ensuring the port is under one authority.

"This is about place identity. I get change is hard but it's change that's needed for long term economic growth," she said.

Bogle said Labour would not benefit from taking on Eastleigh Borough Council, which has been run by the Liberal Democrats since 1994 and the Waterside villages which have representatives from the Libs Dems, Conservatives and Reform but no Labour councillors.

MHCLG said previous reorganisations in other areas have given significant savings and efficiencies.

Its figures show in North Yorkshire, £90m of savings had been made since April 2023 and North Northamptonshire saved £17.2m in its first three years through its transformation programme.

The newly created local authorities for Hampshire are due to have elections in May 2027 and work alongside existing councils until April 2028.