TOP level talks are to take place over devolution for Hampshire after a bid to grab powers from Whitehall won cross-party support from county politicians.

County council leader Roy Perry is to hold a face-to-face meeting next week with Communities Secretary Eric Pickles which could see key issues such as some tax raising powers and health, economy and transport.

As the Daily Echo revealed yesterday initial high level negotiations have already begun on what could shape up to be the biggest change to how residents are governed in living memory.

Mr Pickles is part of an influential Cabinet committee in charge of English devolution which was called for following the Scottish Independence referendum and more powers heading north of the border.

Already Greater Manchester, which created a combined authority in 2011, has been promised more powers to target money where it thinks it will create and improve skills, training and higher education as well as health and transport.

Cllr Perry said Hampshire could follow suit and reap benefits as part of the devolution process.

As reported, leaders of Southampton and Portsmouth have signalled they are ready to join forces along with other borough councils such as Gosport and Fareham.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has said only authorities or groups of councils with directly elected mayors would get full devolution.

Daily Echo: Cllr Roy Perry.

Cllr Roy Perry

However, Cllr Perry told the Echo: “I think a sub region such as Hampshire and the unitaries of Southampton, Portsmouth and Isle of Wight which has a population of about two million could cope with the same responsibilities as those now being proposed for Greater Manchester.

“I am confident that the people of southern England and Hampshire in particular are just as competent to handle those sort of responsibilities.”

They include taking charge of road building, the job centre, regulating local buses and rail services and taking power over the NHS which would be integrated with council run adult services.

Liberal Democrat county council group leader Keith House, who is also the leader of Eastleigh Borough Council, said he backed the campaign for devolution.

He said: “Hampshire is a very large place in world terms. Hampshire is bigger in population than 49 sovereign states although we have far fewer powers than even the smallest of those sovereign states. We may not always think of it as that.”

Fareham UKIP county councillor Chris Wood argued that powers should be devolved from both UK and European Union quangos which are not democratically accountable.

This point, along with more powers for parish councils, was added to a motion that was voted through.