It was only back in December 2015 that Isle of Wight and Hampshire partners presented their Devolution Bid at a parliamentary reception.
Up until now, the plan has been that all 15 authorities (in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight) are working together on the Southern Powerhouse Devolution Bid.
Two new changes
However, it emerged over the weekend that two things might be happening. One, the splitting of the bid between north and south Hampshire (and the IW) and two, as the Daily Echo have reported, plans for a combined super-council between Southampton, Portsmouth and Eastleigh, led by an elected mayor being formed.
The Isle of Wight council have already declared their opposition for devolved powers to be given to an elected Mayor. Something the minister is keen to pursue.
Bacon: Financial security needed for the Island
Isle of Wight Council leader, Jonathan Bacon, confirmed to OnTheWight that there was a meeting late on Friday afternoon at the Treasury.
He said,
“Our position has to be that we need a financial package to save the authority and we will consider an arrangement that does that, but if it doesn’t give the financial sustainability we need, we will not.”
The concerns with splitting Hampshire in two – the wealthy north and less wealthy south, including the Isle of Wight – is that the south would then further struggle financially.
View of the MP
OnTheWight has written to Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Andrew Turner, to find out whether he would actively oppose the splitting of Hampshire for the purposes of the Devolution Bid.
We’ll update the article once we hear back.
The BBC’s political editor for the South of England, Peter Henley, has more.
Official release from Isle of Wight council
The Isle of Wight council recently issues the following:-
The Isle of Wight Council has maintained, since discussions around devolution began in 2015, that its sovereignty and financial sustainability was critical in any deal made. This was a key element of the devolution bid for Hampshire and Isle of Wight, submitted to government in September 2015, with the support of fifteen local authorities. This point was reaffirmed by the council’s Leader at the most recent meeting of the HIOW partners, which took place on Friday.
A meeting with the Treasury took place on Friday to explore devolution ideas for the area. The Isle of Wight Council was represented by the Leader and the Chief Executive.
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, said, “The recent Local Government Finance Settlement poses an increased challenge to achieving financial sustainability for the Isle of Wight Council; it must, therefore, consider every opportunity to secure its future whilst ensuring that there remains a local authority to properly represent and reflect the views of the Island’s community. We used the opportunity of our meeting with the Treasury to reinforce this point as being essential to any proposal we would consider.”
Update 13:37 Added IWC release
Image: maplessinseattle under CC BY 2.0
