The leader of Hampshire County Council has said local government reorganisation will place a “financial burden” on authorities.
Conservative Nick Adams-King told BBC Politics South that the plans had also left locals “unhappy” about being “taken away from their traditional districts”.
His comments come after the government announced earlier this week that the county’s 15 existing councils will be merged into five new all-encompassing local authorities.
The newly created local authorities are not expected to come into being until April 2028, with the government saying the proposals will save local taxpayers’ money.
But Adams-King said: “The journey is not one that’s just going to end in a couple of years time, this is something that’s going to take 10 to 15 years to see the benefits and the cost of doing it over that time is going to be at least £120m.”
“At a time when the system is already under strain, adding this will be a burden – our finances are under pressure, and being able to afford it will be the difficult thing”
The proposals will see the 15 existing councils merged into five [BBC]
Adams-King said local government reorganisation had the “opportunity to save all of us significant amounts of money” and “helps make the entire system more streamlined”.
“But it’s the journey to that place is the difficult part of it.
“Effectively, what’s happened this week is the government has chosen the worse possible option,” he added.
Dame Anneliese Dodds said the government’s proposals would result in “less confusion” [BBC]
Also on the sofa alongside Adams-King was former cabinet minister, and Labour MP for Oxford East, Dame Anneliese Dodds, who defended the government’s proposals, saying they would result in “less confusion”.
“I think it’s very difficult to defend the current circumstances. We’ve got to sort this out,” she said.
“We have to have a system that is actually much more accountable for ordinary people. We need to have a system that makes sense financially as well.”
“It does have to be cut up somehow. I think the government has looked very carefully at this and the evidence of what local needs are and what local identities are,” she added.
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