REINTRODUCING the idea of a Hampshire-wide combined authority are “doomed from day one”, according to the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council leader.

Hampshire County Council leader Roy Perry has again floated the idea of powers being devolved from central government to a combined Hampshire authority which would see district councils, including Basingstoke and Deane, come under one umbrella with city authorities, park authorities and local enterprise partnerships.

The initial idea was proposed in September 2015, but was met with much pushback from several local authorities including from leader of the borough council, Cllr Clive Sanders.

This week, Cllr Sanders said: “The almost Orwellian idea of some giant octopus of an organisation sitting in its lair in Winchester with tentacles stretching out to all parts of the county deciding what’s best for local communities, would only be a retrograde step. Decisions would inevitably made by people who may well have little knowledge of local circumstances and no feel for local views.

“There are some in Basingstoke who would like to see us become a unitary on our own. It is a very attractive idea and we certainly have the skills and resources to make it happen. But, there are too many examples, some of them very close to home, of areas that have become unitary that were not big enough to achieve the economies of scale to be sustainable.”

In the proposal put forward by the leader of the county council, Cllr Roy Perry claims that by forming a combined authority, it would bring additional focus on the challenges of the economy, housing and health.

Cllr Perry said: “I have spoken with Sajid Javid, the secretary of state, and he was quite clear that he would not wish to impose anything that would not have county council’s agreement. He also knows our concern that if a unitary Solent City were to be established, that could, and almost certainly would, lead to the division of Hampshire.

“We are already working more closely with the NHS, but there is scope for even closer integration, but we need the same footprint – i.e.

a pan Hampshire and Isle of Wight footprint for local government without disrupting existing arrangements.”