Rushmoor Borough Council Cabinet Meeting

Having regard to the Council’s Code of Conduct for Councillors, no declarations of interest were made.

The Cabinet considered Report No. ACE2506, which set out an interim plan in respect of the ongoing Local Government Reorganisation process.

Members were reminded that the Government had selected all authorities within the Hampshire and the Isle of Wight area to be part of its Devolution Priority Programme (DPP). A requirement of the DPP was that Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) should be taken forward, with district councils joining together with other councils to create larger, unitary councils. The Secretary of State had formally requested that an interim LGR plan should be submitted by the deadline of 21st March, 2025, with a final business case to be submitted later in the year. It was explained that, in light of this deadline, this Cabinet decision would be considered to be urgent and, therefore, would be exempt from the call-in process.

The Cabinet was informed that the proposed interim plan had been drawn up collaboratively by all authorities in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight area and that there had been good joint working between the councils at this stage. The same interim plan was being considered by the relevant decision-making body within each of the councils involved. It was confirmed that there would be two changes to the document before submission in relation to the removal of signatures and the correction of data in terms of Hampshire County Council’s financial deficit.

The Cabinet RESOLVED that the interim plan, as set out in Appendix 2 of Report No. ACE2506, be approved for submission to the Government, subject to the changes detailed above.

RESOLVED: That, taking into account the public interest test, the public be excluded from the meeting during the discussion of the under mentioned item to avoid the disclosure of exempt information within the paragraph of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972 indicated against the item:

Minute           Schedule      Category

No.                  12A Para.

                        No.

78                   3                      Information relating to financial or business affairs