A £1 BILLION cash boost offered to civic chiefs as part of the Solent devolution deal has been dismissed as “peanuts” by critics.

A combined authority will not be given enough money to make up for government cuts, Hampshire County Council leader Roy Perry said.

But Southampton boss Simon Letts said the deal would allow a new elected mayor to borrow hundreds of millions to invest in projects like a tram link with Portsmouth, as revealed in the Daily Echo this week.

Councils along the south coast have been offered £30 million a year for the next 30 years to help borrow cash for investment, according to Cllr Letts.

Cllr Perry described some of the figures as “peanuts” and said splitting Hampshire, leaving areas like Winchester and the New Forest out of the project, could threaten the county’s identity.

He said: “That’s why we’re a county, and creating a new city structure in the Solent really is damaging to identity and community.

He added: “They are pretty modest figures alongside the cuts that are needed in this area.

“We had £48 million removed [by the Government], so I’m not overly impressed by an offer to restore £30 million back to it.

“The figure that’s been suggested to me just to make the M27 flow freely would be something like £500 million.”

Cllr Chris Wood, the county’s UKIP group leader, said the “ridiculous” sums would not be enough to pay for the mayor’s office.

But Cllr Letts said this deal was one of the best offered to anyone in the country.

He said: “Even a conservative estimate would be £600-700 million that could be invested in the area in the short to medium term,” he said.

“There’s an extra level of government – is that a problem? I don’t know.

The alternative at the moment is someone in Whitehall decides if this money gets spent. I want local people to have a say.”

He added: “Hampshire is a historical place.

“It’s existed since Saxon times and it will continue to exist regardless of the mechanisms of how it’s run.”

Councils involved in the deal have written to neighbours who are reluctant about taking on a mayor – including the county council, Winchester, Test Valley and the New Forest – urging them to join in.