In a “historic” council meeting, members agreed to the council’s recommendation to create a combined authority across the wider region and requested the government be included in the Devolution Priority Programme (DPP).
Although the members reached a consensus, the cabinet still had to make the final call on January 10.
This decision required the agreement of councils in Portsmouth, Southampton, and the Isle of Wight – while the latter initially rejected the mayor and devolution plan but later approved on Thursday, January 9, the HCC cabinet has decided it will go full steam ahead with the plans.
READ MORE: Hampshire County Council votes on historic merger with elections possibly postponed
Hampshire County Council With all parts on board, the leader of Hampshire County Council, Nick Adams-King, said the decision is “profound” and probably the “most significant we will make as a council since the 1990s”.
“If we decide to engage with this programme, it will fundamentally change the way in which the government is delivered. It will essentially mean that this body will, at some point in the next few years, cease to exist. Similarly, districts and boroughs that form the second tier beneath us will be in a similar position.”
A position that would bring “enormous opportunities” to the region, he said.
“This is just the beginning of a journey. We are not making a decision today that definitely decides exactly what that eventual outcome looks like. What it does do is put us on the road to that eventual decision.”
The leader said that the government is clear that the council should go “down this route” since “there is not a do-nothing option here”.
He added: “It’s rather like being in a car where the government have the control of the accelerator and the brake.
“And so, by taking the decision to join the Devolution Priority Programme, I believe at least give us a chance to have some influence on the steering wheel.”
In support of the devolution, Liberal Democrats leader Cllr Keith House, said that on balance, “the region should go ahead with the devolution”.
“It just about takes more power from the centre that it gives up to another body or be it we do need to understand that we are giving up powers from policing, community safety, on fire to a more remote body than the one that currently offers it,” he said.
Regarding the local government reorganisation, Cllr House said that by abolishing the county council, “we” are bringing decision-making closer to local people because the unitary authorities will be closer than we are here today.
However, he said that abolishing the district and borough councils “clearly does the opposite”.
“We’re taking power up from a more local body to a slightly more centralised body,” he added.
SEE MORE: Hampshire County Council considers devolution merger
Cllr Kim Taylor, leader of the Labour group, said devolution is a “real step forward” in “improving” and “protecting” public services for all residents who are currently “threatened” by the financial challenges faced by all authorities, making Devolution “even more urgent”.
She said: “I think it’s essential that we apply to be in the priority group to unlock those possibilities as quickly as possible and to ensure that we maximise the opportunities to redirect any LGR (local government reorganisation) savings back into our region.
“I do not want us to be in the back of the queue, and I want us to have a mayor in the council of regions and nations as soon as possible fighting our cause.”
After the debate, Cllr Adams-King thanked all his colleagues for the questions and said they needed to accept that devolution “is happening”.
“We might all be unhappy. We might all be upset. We might all be worried. We might all be concerned for our residents about these proposals, but they are proposals put forward by a government that has a majority of almost 200 in the House of Commons, so they are happening whether we like them or not, and so far, better we are at the table.”