A warning has been issued that households across Hampshire will be left paying more to council coffers as district and borough authorities work on abolishing themselves.

Leaders of local authorities in Hampshire have been working hard to put devolution and local government reorganisation plans together as the government requested last year.

While East Hampshire’s district councillors at a scrutiny meeting (March 6) were confused about the forthcoming plans, leader Councillor Richard Millard (Con, Headley) tried to put concerns at rest.

Cllr Millard said the document proposed for March 21 submission to the Government on local government reorganisation – which looks set to replace current authorities with new ones for around 500,000 people – was “vanilla” and scene setting.

He said this would offer a first gateway into what might be proposed. It outlines the best aspects of Hampshire and a sense of place. For example, the importance of maintaining Portsmouth and Southampton as world-leading ports along with Winchester as a historic city.

He said he had been talking to everyone, all council leaders, MPs, ministers, some individual councillors and after March 21 there will be a parish, district and partner communication plan.

Government plans ask to see boroughs and district councils abolished and replaced by unitary authorities and mayors. What does this mean?

East Hampshire District Council’s monitoring officer David Brown said there are two separate plans that affect each other. Devolution plans will create a mayoral county combined authority and there are local government reorganisation (LGR) plans.

LGR will dissolve the county council along with 11 Hampshire districts and borough councils to create a fewer number of unitary councils, estimated at three to five, the members were told.

There is a March 21 deadline for all local authorities in Hampshire to get their initial ideas to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government ( MHCLG).

Leaders across all areas have been working with consultants KPMG to produce a report for Monday, March 10 that then needs to be digested and decided upon by councillors.

East Hampshire District Council’s (EHDC) scrutiny panel meeting on March 6 sat to start the process of what it is going to put forward.

Mr Brown was tasked with explaining the process to members of the committee – but made clear that it was for councillors how to decide to move forward.

Councillor Charlene Maines (Con, Rowlands Castle) said she was worried about councillors losing their jobs and was upset and anxious about the speed of the process. She added that she did not feel equipped to make decisions because of the lack of information.

Mr Brown said it started with a white paper, a directive from the government on December 16. A first meeting on January 6 to brief members with KPMG brought on board to develop proposals and it is hoped to stay and develop a longer-term strategy.

He said, in a report from consultants PwC (Price Waterhouse Cooper), the white paper on the devolution and LGR processes states” bigger is better”,

“Unitary councils can lead to better outcomes for residents, save significant money which can be reinvested in public services and improve accountability with fewer politicians who are more able to focus on delivery for residents,” it said.

Hampshire has two-tier authorities. Hampshire County Council is responsible for services such as adult social care, children’s services, and roads, while boroughs and districts look after other matters like bins, planning and leisure centres. For Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight, they have unitary authorities responsible for all services.

Moving forward, three or five unitary authorities will be created across the area.

While there is speculation over the Isle of Wight remaining unchanged, the LGR submission on March 21 also gives the council the opportunity to get a definitive answer on these kinds of questions from the government, said Mr Brown.

EHDC’s councillors fear local knowledge on local issues will be lost if the Government forges ahead with its plans.

The meeting heard there is also a fear a larger council wouldn’t be interested in dealing with smaller issues, such as the car park behind the parish hall with three car parking.

Cllr Maines said that parish councillors, which will not be replaced, already have enough to do and was concerned they would be burdened with more.

The monitoring officer said there is no new money from the government to fund these new plans. Unitaries need tens of millions of pounds to fund services in comparison to EHDC with a £14million budget.

He warned that money would be likely raised through charges to residents, clearly saying “the residents will pay”.

After the unitary is set up there is something called “harmonisation” of savings and revenue across the partners involved. With revenue, it means a new unitary authority can set a different level of council tax. Mr Brown said if East Hampshire was to merge with Rushmoor, households could be left paying an extra £84 council tax a year. While that would mean £4million in extra revenue for the council, it would be an increased cost for households in East Hampshire.

He said things like parking charges may also be under joint control but could increase rather than go down.

It’s also unclear what will happen where councils, such as Hampshire County Council, are facing huge budget deficits, how will the debt be paid off.

On March 17, an extraordinary cabinet meeting is set to discuss the council’s plans.

The Government has laid out six evidenced-based criteria including population, geography and economic areas that must be considered for new unitary plans or options.

By March 21, the Government required that “one ‘interim plan’ is jointly submitted by all councils in the area…if there is more than one option under consideration…include information”.

The paper will be delivered to the Secretary of State by the leader of Winchester City Council, Councillor Martin Tod (Lib Dem, St Paul), said Cllr Millard.