08/09/2026
Good explanation from Cllr Young on where we are re LGR !! Lots of questions now re what happens regarding our stalled Local Plan
GOVERNMENT’S LGR U-TURN COMES AT A REAL COST TO PEOPLE, TAXPAYERS AND LOCAL DEMOCRACY
Yesterday, the Government changed its mind - yet again - over Local Government Reorganisation in Hampshire.
In March, it decided our existing councils would be replaced by new unitary authorities from 2028, with elections to new “shadow” councils in May 2027.
Now, that decision has been withdrawn and the programme put under review. The shadow unitary elections will not take place next May. Instead, elections will take place on existing council boundaries: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/review-of-local-government-reorganisation-launched
For East Hampshire, that means elections for all 43 seats on East Hampshire District Council, rather than elections to the proposed new Mid Hampshire and South East Hampshire unitary authorities.
WHERE EAST HANTS LIB DEMS STOOD
As the East Hampshire Liberal Democrat Group, we had concerns from the outset about moving decision-making further away from residents and communities and into much bigger authorities.
But if reorganisation was going to happen, we wanted a council large enough to achieve efficiencies, share knowledge and expertise and build resilient services - while remaining small and agile enough to respond to its communities.
That has consistently been our position. I argued publicly last year for “smaller, more agile unitaries that serve communities and adapt to local needs”: https://www.altonherald.com/news/local-government-reorganisation-proposal-submitted-by-east-hampshire-district-council-836205
Of the options presented, we as the East Hampshire Liberal Democrat Group supported bringing East Hampshire together with Wi******er and Test Valley. We thought that struck the best balance between the efficiencies and expertise of a larger organisation and genuinely responsive local government.
It was also the option most strongly supported by East Hampshire residents who responded to the public engagement, with more than half backing that model. Importantly, it would have kept East Hampshire’s existing parish boundaries intact - including Clanfield, Horndean and Rowlands Castle: https://www.altonherald.com/news/local-government-reorganisation-proposal-submitted-by-east-hampshire-district-council-836205
The Government ultimately chose a different Mid Hampshire model, combining most of East Hampshire with Wi******er, Test Valley and the New Forest, while moving Clanfield, Horndean and Rowlands Castle into South East Hampshire.
We had concerns about its scale and geography, whether such a large and varied authority could retain genuine local responsiveness, and the decision to move our southern parishes away from the rest of East Hampshire - something that was unpopular with many residents there.
But a decision had been made, and our focus moved to making it work.
I was genuinely encouraged by what followed. Across political parties and councils, people put differences aside and started working constructively together. I had been nominated to the Mid Hampshire Joint Committee and was already involved in productive and optimistic conversations about the future, with public meetings due to begin this month.
Council officers across Hampshire had also poured enormous amounts of work into preparing for the change.
Then Government changed direction again.
THE HUMAN AND FINANCIAL COST
Local government isn’t an abstract diagram of councils and boundaries. Around two million people work in local government across the UK.
Behind every reorganisation are real people wondering whether their job will exist, where they will work and what their future looks like.
We rightly see national concern when a major employer - such as Jaguar Land Rover currently - announces thousands of potential job losses. Yet Government itself has created prolonged uncertainty for people working across local government through a programme which has repeatedly changed.
And this is happening in a sector already stretched extremely thinly, despite providing vital services residents rely on every day - including services where delays or failures can have life-changing, or even life-and-death, consequences.
There is a cost to taxpayers too. Huge amounts of officer time, resource and public money have already gone into preparing for LGR. The Government itself has acknowledged the “huge amount of work” already undertaken:
Some of that work may prove useful. Much of it may not.
Either way, this stop-start approach is an incredibly expensive way to run government.
IT MATTERS FOR DEMOCRACY TOO
This is now the third major change to Hampshire’s electoral timetable in less than two years: County Council elections due in 2025 were postponed to 2026; the Hampshire and Solent mayoral election was moved from 2026 to 2028; and now the shadow unitary elections planned for May 2027 have gone too.
Few people may empathise with political parties having to keep changing tack, but there is a serious democratic point here.
A healthy local democracy relies on good people being prepared to stand for election and voters having a genuine choice between credible candidates.
Finding, vetting and democratically selecting those candidates - and giving them time to get to know the communities they hope to represent - takes time. Much of that work is done by volunteers.
Constantly changing which elections are happening and what councils people are standing for wastes that effort and makes it harder for all parties to recruit and properly prepare good candidates.
Ultimately, voters get less choice and local leadership suffers.
Whatever your feelings about LGR, that matters.
THE DEVOLUTION AGENDA
Perhaps the most frustrating thing for me is that I do support taking power away from Westminster and giving more of it to local communities.
Like many of you, I hoped - and still hope - that Andy Burnham will govern differently from Keir Starmer.
Hampshire desperately needs greater control over its own future - economic development and jobs, skills and training, transport, regeneration of our towns and high streets, strategic planning and housing, and making sure the infrastructure needed for new homes actually arrives alongside them.
If devolution is done properly, the Mayor of Hampshire and accompanying Strategic Authority should be a vehicle through which to deliver this.
The Government says it remains committed to devolution. I hope it does.
My own view is that, faced with a cash-strapped national government, a hugely expensive restructuring programme and significant risks of disruption to local services, the new Government may simply have looked again at the scale of a programme which has been reworked several times and created considerable uncertainty for councils, staff and residents - and concluded that it needed another look.
The legal challenges may well have added more fuel to that fire.
Whether LGR now comes back out of the filing cabinet in a year or two, or disappears into the back of it for good, who knows.
But councils, staff, residents and taxpayers need clarity and stability.
We cannot keep spending months preparing for one system only to suddenly be told to prepare for another.
Let’s hope the Prime Minister remains committed to genuine devolution - putting powers and resources into the hands of local people, rather than simply reorganising the structures beneath Whitehall.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR EAST HAMPSHIRE?
One unexpected consequence is that I am now aiming to stand again for East Hampshire District Council next year.
As Leader of the East Hampshire Liberal Democrat Group, I think we’ve got a real chance to take the administration of the council next year - and that’s genuinely exciting.
That certainly wasn’t where I expected us to be a few days ago, but it is a welcome opportunity for real change in East Hampshire.
Watch this space.
P.S. If you live anywhere in East Hampshire and have ever thought about standing as a Liberal Democrat district councillor, please get in touch 😉
