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DEVOLUTION DEAL IS ‘DEAD’ SAYS LEADER County council pulls out of move for single ‘southern powerhouse’
Air ambulance launches new night flights thanks to link-up EMERGENCY medical service helicopters will now patrol the skies for seven hours longer each night across Hampshire to provide help for those in need.
Charity Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) launched its nighttime operations as part of a new partnership forged with Oxfordshire-based Thames
Valley Air Ambulance (TVAA) last night. The move will see two Airbus H134 helicopters cover the region for 19 hours a day, and enable paramedics to reach
anywhere in the county within 15 minutes. •See page 5 for full story. •(Picture by Julian Hickman)
PLANS to create a Hampshirewide combined authority look to be in tatters after the county council pulled out of a proposed devolution deal. The idea to create a single “southern powerhouse” to devolve powers and funding to local authorities was thrown into doubt last month after the Government insisted that a directlyelected mayor be included. But this move led to the alienation of Basingstoke and Deane, Winchester and other northern districts, with the areas feeling that a ‘metro mayor’ would leave them “severely disadvantaged” compared to the south. Portsmouth and Southampton are looking to front a combined authority for the Solent area, which would also include East Hampshire – boundaries that the county council’s leader Roy Perry said make “little sense”. The leader of Basingstoke and Deane’s council has backed his colleagues’ decision to bow out of the deal, claiming that while he supported devolution, he was
By Christian Wilson not prepared to disadvantage the borough. Cllr Clive Sanders said: “It’s like the devolution hokey-cokey with the county council at the moment – fi rst they’re in, then they’re out. “I’m a great supporter of devolving responsibilities of local government down to local areas, but not at any price. “We believe in local government being local and there was no sign of that. “We’re not ruling out devolution in the future, but a deal for the whole of Hampshire is dead.” The original deal would have seen powers and funding on health, education and transport devolved to the borough, giving Basingstoke and Deane more responsibilities in handling its own services. Cllr Sanders insisted that a similar agreement could still be thrashed out between the districts in the north of Hampshire. VË Í ÖjaË Ë¬?~jËÏË
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