Our Place, Our Future – have your say on the future of local councils across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight
A group of 12 of the 15 councils in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, including Winchester City Council, is working together to develop proposals for new councils that will provide all services to their residents in future.
The government wants to change the current ‘two-tier’ council structure in most of the county, where residents have services delivered by both Hampshire County Council and district or borough councils. Three other areas, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight, already have single councils, known as unitary councils, that provide all local services.
Instead, the government has asked councils to propose how they could join their areas together to form new councils that would each be responsible for most local services in that area.
In response, Winchester City Council and the other 11 councils have been collaborating on developing options that would work best for their residents, businesses and wider community. The other councils are Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Eastleigh Borough Council, Fareham Borough Council, Hart District Council, Havant Borough Council, Isle of Wight Council, New Forest District Council, Portsmouth City Council, Rushmoor Borough Council, Southampton City Council, Test Valley Borough Council
Together, the councils are working on options that would replace the current 15 councils with four new unitary councils on the mainland, keeping the Isle of Wight as its own unitary council as it currently is.
This is based on the evidence they have gathered that this number of councils, delivering all services in the areas they cover, would give the best balance of local decision-making and sustainable size for the total population of over two million people.
It would avoid options for fewer unitary councils that would mean some of them serving well over one million residents.
The councils believe this proposal means the best of both worlds: councils that are big enough to deliver strategic services, but local enough to understand communities so they can tailor services more closely to their needs.
A key part of this work on the options will be understanding how residents, businesses and community groups feel about the changes and what area they think their future council should cover.
Engagement, through a feedback survey, has been launched today (30 June) across the council areas to gather views to help understand what matters most to people and shape how local councils work in future—so they reflect real places, local identity and culture, priorities, and people.
Additionally, Winchester City Council will be holding drop in events across the district:
Monday 7 July – Meadowside Leisure Centre, Whiteley 4pm – 7pm
Thursday 10 July – Alresford Market, SO24 9AG 9-1pm
Monday 14 July – Wickham Square (next to the Village Bakery) 3-6pm
Tuesday 15 July – South Wonston Sports and Recreation Pavilion 3-6PM
Monday 21 July – Colden Common Community Centre next to the Co-op 3-6pm
Wednesday 23 July – All Saint’s Church Hall, Denmead 4-7pm
Thursday 24 July – Winchester High Street, nr St Maurice’s Covert 9am-2pm
Each council must decide what they will submit as their preferred option to the government in September. The survey can be completed using on Commonplace: https://ourplaceourfuture.commonplace.is