Government still plans for new combined authority

The Isle of Wight Council has confirmed it’s belief that the government’s decision to halt controversial plans to reorganise local government in Hampshire will have no impact on the Island’s governance or its future within the emerging Hampshire and Solent Combined County Authority.

Communities Secretary, Angela Rayner, announced on Monday that the government was withdrawing its previous approval for a major restructure of Hampshire’s councils, and launching a full review of the wider Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) programme after taking legal advice. The Hampshire plans would have merged district and city councils into four new unitary authorities, but the Isle of Wight was never part of the proposals, and would have remained a standalone authority. No date has been given to confirm when the review will be completed.

Council leader, Jonathan Bacon, said that the Isle of Wight’s position as an independent unitary authority is fully accepted by the Government, and neighbouring councils. During the consultation on proposals for devolution, it became clear that no other council in the proposed Hampshire and Solent Combined Authority was prepared to merge with the IW Council.

Although the LGR process has been paused, the government says that it intends the timetable for devolution – including the creation of the Hampshire and The Solent Combined Authority – to remain unchanged. In her House of Commons statement, Angela Rayner said: “The prime minister is really clear that that’s what the government ambition is – to ensure that every area in England has or is in the process of establishing a strategic authority by the end of 2027, with strategic authorities in place everywhere by the end of 2028.”

However, when pressed for a categorical assurance that elections to new shadow authorities would still take place as planned, Ms Rayner declined to give one, saying that elections to existing councils would proceed “unless we are in a position to hold elections to new unitary councils at that point.”