A Hampshire-wide referendum will take place during the summer, starting with Town and Parish Councils, for the people to decide what sort of local government administration they would like to see in the future. There will be an opportunity to simplify the current administration by replacing multiple layers of bureaucracy with just one layer in the way Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight have been administered for years. In the future, you will no longer need to know which council is responsible for a particular service, such as waste collection or making planning decisions, as there would only be one council. Removing layers of bureaucracy not only simplifies administration, it will reduce costs and therefore your council tax. However, it will affect local democracy since some District and Town and Parish councils are run by different political parties. Unless the new council is administered by a form of proportional representation, we could find that our hard-earned tax is not being spent, in a way that the majority would wish.
Hampshire County Council has commissioned a report by Deloittes to examine the possible administrative options available to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight as an alternative to the Solent Combined Authorities. They came up with seven variants, all based on unitary authorities. Of the 7 options, the preferred option, the one to effect the greatest cost saving is the County unitary model, with an immediate 91% council tax cut, saving £75 per household. Whichever option is to be chosen, it would not be the council that would make the choice. It would be put to public consultation. A paper has been printed and is available to the public in preparation for the Hampshire County Council Cabinet to decide how to launch the initiative to residents. Read more…