Central Government is committed to reorganising local government. In many areas like ours, there are two tiers of local government responsible for different parts of the same service, causing confusion, duplication, and additional cost. The 15 Borough, District, Unitary and County councils of Hampshire, Solent and Isle of Wight have been asked by the Government to put forward plans to reorganise all councils into new unitary councils that will be much smaller than Hampshire County Council but bigger than Borough and District councils. Each one will be responsible for all of the services in their area, whether that’s bin collections, education, or social care. So no more duplication and confusion about who does what.

The government asked for options to be submitted in September 2025 for reorganisation. Originally, all 15 councils were working on this together, but different priorities emerged, with one group wanting to make options based on “place” and Hampshire County Council and East Hampshire District Council keen to undertake a thorough analysis of data and finances before making choices.

All councils can put forward their options to Government in September, and they will make the final decision about the shape of our local government for the future.

After the views of organisation, partners, residents, and all the data was collected and analysed using three independent consultants as well as council staff, some options were considered, all of them keeping the Isle of Wight as a separate entity. The analysis looked at demand for services in different parts of the region, council income, and the costs of making change (new IT systems, etc), along with savings from reduced staff, such as senior managers, and reduced duplication.

• Three Unitaries – Two new mainland plus IoW – too complex and costly to implement and too remote
• Four Unitaries – Three new mainland plus IoW – two choices for this were assessed, and the one chosen to submit (B2) balances local identity with financial resilience, meets government criteria, and minimizes disruption to critical services like social care and education
• Five Unitaries – Four new mainland plus IoW – Offers smaller, more localised governance but does not meet government population thresholds. It could increase complexity and administrative costs and risks fragmenting services like social care or creating a new greenfield unitary with no experience to deliver them.

Option B2 stood out because it was the only option that balances place, quality, and financial resilience effectively. It would avoid fragmenting and disrupting services like social care, education, and highways.

Hampshire County and East Hampshire District Councils have decided that option B2 will be submitted to government. We don’t yet know when we will hear about their decision.