Local Government Reorganisation

Hampshire Perspectives is the County Council’s residents’ forum.

In May 2025 Hampshire County Council sought to inform the vision and proposals for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) across Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight. The aim was to help inform design of the new structure so that it can meet local needs and priorities.

Hampshire Perspectives forum members were invited to share their views between 15-29 May 2025 via an online survey. Acknowledging that the forum tends towards an older demographic, Hampshire County Council (HCC) staff aged under 40 were also invited to participate.  In total, 1,150 responses were received, incorporating 767 from forum members and 383 from HCC staff.

This Insight report contains full findings from that project, with the key headlines summarised below.

Key findings were as follows:

1. Respondents’ awareness of LGR

• While most respondents were aware of LGR in Hampshire and the Solent, only 4 in 10 were broadly confident they understood it.

2. What respondents wanted from local government and LGR

• Respondents considered efficient and effective service delivery both during and after the process of reorganisation to be their most important priorities. Although councils should understand and strongly represent local needs it was less important that they had a local base.
• When asked what they wanted LGR to achieve, respondents frequently mentioned cost savings, a broad range of service improvements (such as quality, access, resilience, and equity), and enabling community engagement. They hoped for an effective, future proofed-system that would offer fair representation and distribution of resources across all areas.

3. Potential benefits and risks of LGR

• Opportunities often related to improved efficiency, co-ordination and a localised focus. Concerns reflected the potential failure to deliver these, along with the perceived impacts of implementing change.
• Reduced costs and streamlining were seen as potential benefits of LGR, but there was also scepticism about the likelihood of these efficiencies being realised, and a fear of additional bureaucracy, particularly alongside the introduction of an elected mayor in Hampshire.
• Some saw LGR as an opportunity for decision making to be more local than currently provided via the county council structure; however, others felt that the removal of district councils would see less local decision making and less local identity in their local services.
• Respondents told us that they more strongly identified with their local neighbourhood than with their local authority or nearest urban centre, and they were more likely to see LGR as a risk to local identity than likely to improve it.