WORK has now got underway on creating two new councils in a town centre.

Two new councils are in the process of being created in central Eastleigh after a Community Governance Review (CGR) indicated that householders are strongly in-favour of more locally focussed decision making.

A new town council is being created for central Eastleigh, whilst a new parish council will be formed in Boyatt Wood.

A working group has now been set up to consider a range of issues, including warding arrangements, the range of assets and services that will transfer to the ownership and management of the new councils, and the initial level of council tax precepts.

Five wards are planned for the town council and three in Boyatt Wood.

Leader of Eastleigh Borough Council, Cllr Keith House, previously said: “With the prospect of much larger councils being created for areas far greater than our existing borough, keeping decision-making as local as possible is becoming increasingly important.”

A shadow council will be formed for each area later this year and elections of new parish and town councillors will take place in May next year.

Of the 872 people who took part in the CGR survey, 80 per cent said they wanted a new tier of democracy.

A total of 51 per cent favoured the creation of a single parish or town council to cover the whole unparished area whilst 33 per cent wanted a new council just for their neighbourhood.

Central Eastleigh is currently the only place in the borough that is unparished with 10 other parish councils currently operating in the area.

The changes are aimed at giving residents a greater say in how the budget for local services - such as the maintenance of open spaces and play areas, and the management of community buildings and cemeteries - is spent.

The new Boyatt Wood council will cover the area west of the railway line and to the east of Twyford Road, with the remaining parts forming the town Council.