Simon Letts, the leader of Southampton Council, has given a couple of hints that things might be moving on the Devolution of the Hampshire councils – originally called Southern Powerhouse – well, at least some of the councils.
Last night he Tweeted, “The deal is done. Now we need to find out who agrees with it.”
OnTheWight contacted Southampton City Council’s press office about the Tweets of Simon Letts. They said,
“We understand that talks are going well, and we expect an announcement soon.”
Southern Powerhouse split strengthened?
Further weight was added to the possible split of the originally-anticipated Southern Powerhouse, with Cllr Letts Tweeting at the start of the week about ‘Solent Devolution’.
It’s been expected that the south Hampshire bid would include Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, but Isle of Wight council leader, Cllr Jonathan Bacon, told OnTheWight they would not sign any deal that didn’t secure financial stability for the Island.
Background on possible Southern Powerhouse split
Less than two weeks ago, the plans for forming a Southern Powerhouse through a devolution deal with Hampshire came under threat.
It was revealed the Treasury had different plans and wanted to split Hampshire in two, forming north and south bids.
Many feel the thinking behind it is that, with many successful businesses in their area, the north Hampshire councils aren’t keen to share their what-will-be significant earnings from local business rates with their less fortunate cousins in the south, who don’t have the luxury as many businesses yet.
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