Decision details

The Leader, on behalf of the Council, has prepared a full response to the government’s consultation on local government reorganisation.

On 9 January 2026, Cllr Jill Cleary, Leader made the following decision:

1. That the Leader approves the New Forest District Council consultation response for Hampshire and the Solent local government reorganisation (Appendix 1).

2. That the Leader delegates authority to the Chief Executive to make any minor drafting, formatting or corrections to the response prior to submission to MHCLG.

3. That the Leader delegates authority to the Chief Executive to further submit the response via the government’s online portal.

The decision is not subject to Call-In as both the Monitoring Officer and the Chief Executive are satisfied that it must be implemented urgently. Details of the document the Leader considered are attached below.

The recommendations enable the Council to submit a clear, evidence-based response that best represents the Council’s position, informed by stakeholders, businesses and residents’ interests as part of local government reorganisation.

See report.