The minister's 4 November reply gave no date for a final decision on Hampshire. East Hampshire's leader has written again, asking if keeping today's councils is an option.

East Hampshire’s council leader has written to the local government minister for the second time in a week. Cllr Richard Millard says the minister’s reply did not answer either of his questions about the future of councils in Hampshire. The district council published all three letters on its website on Friday 6 November.

The questions matter because East Hampshire District Council could be abolished. Any new councils would now start on 1 April 2029, as we reported on 29 October.

The two questions

Cllr Millard’s first letter, dated 29 October, asked Jim McMahon, the Minister for Local Government:

  1. Will the government make its final decision on Hampshire before the pre-election period begins in March 2027?
  2. If it picks none of the proposals for Hampshire, what happens next?

His second letter, dated 5 November, sharpens the second question. It asks directly whether keeping the existing structure of councils in Hampshire is one of the options.

What the minister said

The minister’s reply is dated 4 November. On Hampshire it says:

  • “All options and proposals for Hampshire remain under consideration.”
  • There will be a further update on outcomes by Christmas, and “every area will have an outcome by early 2027”.
  • The 15 areas without a decision, Hampshire among them, “should avoid activity that assumes a particular outcome”.
  • Where the government reaches a “minded to” position, people get at least three weeks to make further representations before a final decision.
  • The May 2027 elections go ahead to the existing councils.

The reply also names the five areas where the government is already minded to go ahead: East Sussex and Brighton and Hove, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Hampshire is not one of them.

Why the leader wrote back

Cllr Millard’s second letter says the reply “largely repeats information already given in the Government’s unclear statement”.

He says an “outcome” by early 2027 could mean a provisional “minded to” position or a final decision. “These are not the same thing,” he wrote.

In the council’s statement he said: “We need to know whether that means a final decision and, importantly, whether we will have that decision before the end of March, prior to our local elections.”

He added: “Councils, staff and communities across the whole of Hampshire have already lived with uncertainty for long enough. These are not complicated questions and I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect straightforward answers.”

What it means for you

Nothing changes to your services for now. East Hampshire District Council still collects the bins and the council tax, and you vote for district councillors in May 2027 as normal.

The minister’s three-week window matters later. If the government says it is minded to choose one plan for Hampshire, that is the point when residents and councils can still respond before the decision is final. We will report it when it comes.

The reorganisation work has already cost the district £295,000.