Government announces brand new councils for Hampshire and the Solent area

Changes to local government coming to your area in 2028

Today, the Government has announced its decision on the future of local services across Hampshire and the Solent area – with big changes being made to councils, to make things simpler and services easier to access for the future.

What’s changing?

From April 2028, Government intends to replace the current 15 councils serving Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight with five new unitary councils.

Each of these new all-purpose councils will be responsible for delivering all local services in its area – everything from roads and recycling to social care, schools, libraries and planning.

The new councils announced are:

• North Hampshire: Basingstoke, Hart and Rushmoor
• Mid Hampshire: New Forest, Test Valley, Winchester and East Hampshire
• South West Hampshire: Eastleigh and Southampton
• South East Hampshire: Portsmouth, Havant, Gosport and Fareham
• Isle of Wight.

This model also includes the following boundary changes:

• Move the parishes of Totton and Eling, Marchwood, Hythe and Dibden, Fawley (currently under New Forest District Council) and Chilworth, Nursling, Rownhams and Valley Park (currently under Test Valley Borough Council) to the proposed South West Unitary.
• Move the parishes of Newlands (currently under Winchester City Council) Clanfield, Horndean and Rowlands Castle (currently under East Hampshire District Council) to the proposed South East unitary.

Why change?

Today’s local government system means many Hampshire residents deal with both a county and a district council for different services. Government wants to:

• Make services easier to access with one council per area
• Protect vital services such as support for children and adult social care
• Ensure councils are financially stronger and better able to plan for the future
• Deliver growth – boosting jobs, investment and local decision making
• Provide better value for money

What this means right now

For the moment: nothing changes for residents. All current services continue as normal.

We will shortly be writing to the Secretary of State to seek clarification on the process used to assess the options put forward by councils.

The County Council will continue to engage constructively with the other councils affected by today’s announcement, and our wider partners and stakeholders, and make sure that services remain safe, stable and high‑quality.

Hampshire County Council will continue to deliver all its services as normal until the new councils officially take over in April 2028.

We are committed to ensuring vital services are protected, our workforce is supported, and residents are kept informed.

We’ll continue to share updates as the things progress, and in the meantime, you can find out more on our dedicated Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) webpages. On the same webpage, you can also sign up to receive updates on LGR direct to your inbox.