HART District Council has contacted councils and residents to outline its alternative proposals for Hampshire’s local government reorganisation.

The council has sent out letters and leaflets to the Hart district, town and parish councils setting out the case for its proposals for a ‘Heart of Hampshire’ combined authority.

The proposal is one of contrast to the unitary authority proposal from Hampshire County Council.

The plan from Hampshire County Council would see the removal of district councils such as Hart which would be replaced by new unitary councils which would provide all services to the area.

The proposals claim it would lead to savings of up to £40m in senior management and councillor costs, optimising services and reduced property costs, and would save the average household up to £26 per year.

However, Hart does not feel the figures, which were estimated by finance company Deloitte’s, are worthy of such change, and do not agree with the proposals outlined by the county.

In a letter to clerks and members of town and district councils Hart states: “Deloitte’s estimate that to change things in this way will inflict a one-off cost on Hampshire tax payers of £184m for an annual benefit of £26 per person (£39m per annum).

“Our view is that to spend so much on a re-organisation with such small benefits is not good use of taxpayers’ money.

“The Deloitte’s report failed to recognise the ongoing work already in place by districts to cut their cost base.

“In Hart we have already reduced our costs in real terms by 20 per cent since 2009. This already equates to £26.32 per person.

“More importantly while protecting the services most important to our residents we continue to challenge ourselves to be value for money and have already published reports to confirm that by 2019 will have reduced our costs by a further £15.57 per person.

“There are no cost advantages to Hart’s communities from the county council’s preferred approach to unitarisation, in fact there is a small disadvantage on the basis of these figures.”

Hart’s proposal would looks at the introduction of an additional tier of local Government along with a directly elected mayor.

It is also claimed an extra £30m per year will be split among the authorities that would be participating in the plan, which include Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Hart District Council, New Forest District Council, Rushmoor Borough Council, Test Valley Borough Council and Winchester City Council, while Hampshire County Council and the M3 Enterprise LEP would also be involved.

They outline that in return the combined authority would gain yet unrevealed extra powers.

Hart states in the letter: “Another option, apart from stay as you are, is the possibility of creating a combined authority. This enables councils to work more closely in some areas, but keeps the current structures unchanged and also avoids the £184m re-organisation cost.

“The county council itself is not under threat because ‘stay as you are’ or a combined authority approach ensures that the county council continues to exist. In fact, the only approach that removes the county Council is the one proposed by its own consultants; Unitarisation.

Hart District Council leader Stephen Parker concluded: “In our view the consultation is premature and would result in a watering down of local representation. By creating a huge ‘super-sized’ council based in Winchester, areas such as Hart will become far less important.

“There would be significantly fewer local councillors to represent Hart residents (one per 18,600 people compared to one per 2,800 people at present).

“This would mean that you would have less influence over decisions on your local services, such as planning, where new homes are built, economic development of the area, or where roads are provided, and even less of a voice if decisions are made centrally to cut services.”