HIS critics will laugh it off as the biggest ‘landgrab’ in Hampshire political history.

County council leader Roy Perry has commissioned a report that suggests some of the most radical ideas for local government reorganisation in more than a century.

The options include creating one unitary authority for Hampshire replacing the county council, 11 districts and the two mainland unitary authorities of Southampton and Portsmouth.

Another put forward by consultants at Deloitte would see one unitary across Hampshire but with Southampton and Portsmouth also separate.

Cllr Perry announced the ideas yesterday in Winchester.

His intervention comes as councils are considering creating a south Hampshire combined authority, that Cllr Perry dubbed ‘Solent City’ and a ‘Heart of Hampshire’ in the centre and the north.

The government wants a ‘devolution revolution’ securing government grants and overseen by elected mayors.

Cllr Perry told the meeting that the two combined authorities were on the path to being two new unitaries, breaking up Hampshire with little regard to history, geography, economic needs, the NHS, police and fire service or Local Enterprise Partnership.

He said the Deloitte study analysed how services could be better provided across the whole county, at lower cost.

The new unitary authority would see more efficient services and would save around £40 million a year leading to lower council tax bills for more households.

Daily Echo: Hampshire County Council Leader Roy Perry

Cllr Perry said: “Our priority has been, and always will be, serving the best interests of all Hampshire residents. We have thought long and hard about the devolution negotiations with government – and the two current combined authority proposals covering the Hampshire and Isle of Wight area: Solent and Heart of Hampshire.

“Unfortunately, these proposals devolve very few powers down from central government but would transfer, and therefore split, some of the county’s key services such as highways and transport.

"They don’t bring greater clarity or efficiencies. They add a new layer of local government and additional costs and will inevitably disrupt high-quality countywide services.

“The county council has painstakingly built, over many years, a range of services, especially in the protection of vulnerable adults and children, that are the envy of the country. I cannot accept that these should be broken up in this way, for these reasons. I would far rather lose the county council as we know it, and establish a new ‘Hampshire Council’ than threaten those services."

Cllr Perry said one spin-off of larger unitaries was greater power down to parish level.

Southampton council leader Simon Letts described any swallowing up of Southampton as “utter madness”.

Cllr Letts said Cllr Perry had, until recently, been keen to retain the two-tier system. “This is a good example of a 180 degree political u-turn. It is a defensive strategy. The county is concerned about maintaining its own prestige, power and position.”

Daily Echo: Southampton City Council Leader Simon Letts

He called on the county to backtrack and support the idea of a Hampshire combined authority which would maintain the county and districts but give greater devolution from Whitehall at the cost of an elected mayor.

Cllr Letts said the Tories in Hampshire were split between those in south Hampshire, such as Cllr Woodward in Fareham, sympathetic to the combined authority idea, and the ones wedded to maintaining the county council.

Cllr Sean Woodward, until February a cabinet member on the county council and also leader of Fareham Borough Council, said the proposed countywide unitary was too large.

“Do I support the destruction of the two-tier system in Hampshire? No, I do not. One unitary authority would be far too large, two million people. I can’t see it getting public support.”

Daily Echo: Cllr Stephen Godfrey, leader of Winchester City Council

Winchester council leader Stephen Godfrey, pictured, agreed. He said whilst one unitary may provide cheaper services he thought most people wanted services delivered by people based near by.

Ferris Cowper, leader of East Hampshire District Council, said: “Cllr Perry intends to trample further over our local councils by removing all of them; every single District Council, Borough Council, Town Council and Parish Council. Every vestige of localism and local council representation will be eliminated.

“This new threat will be a hammer blow to local democracy as we know it today.”

But before any changes are made Cllr Perry wants there to be full public consultation. “Such a fundamental decision about the future of Hampshire can only happen if residents want it, and are given a proper opportunity to voice their views. I will not be endorsing the current Solent and Heart of Hampshire proposals unless and until the people of Hampshire tell me that is what they want.”