Residents in Basingstoke and Deane are being asked to give their views on the size of the council that will provide all their services in the future.
A survey has been launched at www.basingstoke.gov.uk/future-councils to gather comments on proposals to bring the area together with Hart and Rushmoor into one unitary council.
The government wants to change the current ‘two-tier’ council structure in most of Hampshire, where residents have services delivered by both Hampshire County Council and district or borough councils. Instead, the government has asked all councils to propose how they could join their areas together to form new unitary councils that would each be responsible for all local services in that area.
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has been working with 11 other councils in Hampshire to develop options to replace the current 15 councils with four new unitary councils on the mainland, keeping the Isle of Wight as its own unitary council as it currently is.
This is based on the evidence they have gathered that this number of councils, delivering all services in the areas they cover, would give the best balance of local decision-making and sustainable size.
The options being considered for these four unitary councils all include a new unitary council for north Hampshire, bringing together the areas of Basingstoke and Deane, Hart and Rushmoor.
Now Basingstoke and Deane residents, as well as those in Hart and Rushmoor, are being asked in the survey if they back this plan, rather than options that the councils have rejected that would see the districts swallowed up into a larger council covering a much wider area of Hampshire.
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Leader Cllr Paul Harvey said: “Local government changes in Hampshire may seem a very dry subject but it is very important. It is about local services and how they can work most efficiently and meet the needs of our communities in the future, affecting our residents’ daily lives.
“The government is doing away with all of the existing councils and creating new ones, where all of the services, from education and social care, to housing, roads and emptying bins, would be delivered by just one single council.
“And the size of those councils is really important. The government has said that between 400,000 and 500,000 people should be the size of new unitary councils. Together Basingstoke and Deane, Hart and Rushmoor would have a population of this size and, we think, should be brought together to form a brand-new unitary council for north Hampshire.
“But we want to know what residents think and it is important that their voices are heard in making the decision.”
Feedback from the survey, that runs until Sunday 17 August, will help Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council in putting together its preferred option for future councils for Hampshire to the government in September.
Another survey is also running at https://ourplaceourfuture.commonplace.is/ until Sunday 27 July, which has been developed by the 12 councils in partnership, including Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. This asks residents for views on what areas they think new councils should cover across the whole of Hampshire.