COUNCILS across Hampshire are in discussion to create a large combined authority to receive more powers and millions of pounds from central Government.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Government Association (HIOWLGA), which is made up of leaders from all district and borough councils in the county as well as Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Constabulary and Hampshire Fire and Rescue, discussed the plans last Friday.

All council leaders unanimously agreed to develop the idea and they will send a letter to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark, as a show of support for the proposals.

If they were to go ahead, it would see the creation of a “southern powerhouse”, which would make decisions on issues such as health, the environment and transport.

This would enable Hampshire councils to have more control over how budgets for these areas are spent, allowing them to put the money where it is needed most.

The plan would mean that Hampshire’s existing councils would still carry out their functions but a new layer of Government, made up of a joint-committee of council leaders, would hold the control of millions of pounds of funding each year, currently in the hands of Government ministers.

In addition, borough and district councils could bid to carry out functions which are currently held by Hampshire County Council such as transport.

The move follows the example of Greater Manchester – dubbed the “Northern powerhouse” by Chancellor George Osborne – which now has control over the area’s £6billion health budget, a £300million housing fund and £500m of skills spending.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council leader, Councillor Clive Sanders, told The Gazette the plans could mean that the borough council could become “masters of their own destiny”, adding: “We don’t want people to feel this is going on behind closed doors and we are trying to make it as open as possible.

“In no way are we doing away with the concept of the borough council. If anything, the borough council will become stronger as a result, should it come to fruition.

“The emphasis I want to make is that nothing has been decided, we haven’t signed up to anything whatsoever and we are a long way, I believe, from arriving at a point where we might be able to sign up and put it to full council for agreement.”

He added: “It is well worth investigating it even though it is not going to be easy or simple to achieve.

“If we were successful in bringing this here, there is an opportunity to really have a significant step change in the way local government works in the area, which should have a tremendous benefit to all that live here in terms of the quality of service provision, the range of services provided and the cost of providing these services which inevitably flows through to the taxpayer.”

Leader of HIOWLGA, Cllr Roy Perry, added: “There is cross-party and cross-county support. There’s no suggestion about changing the boundaries or functions of existing councils. It’s about getting extra power over things like transport, skills and health.

“It is a historic opportunity and I think we are all agreed that all of us in the South are just as capable and confident of seizing this opportunity as anyone in the North.”