Hampshire and Solent Combined County Authority begins
In a statutory instrument made on 3 June 2026, the Government created the Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority. In plain English, that means Hampshire County Council, Isle of Wight Council, Portsmouth City Council and Southampton City Council now have a new joint body that can take on certain powers across the wider area. If you live in one of those places, the first thing to know is that your existing council does not disappear. This is not a council merger. It is a new layer of decision-making above the four councils for agreed issues such as transport, regeneration and wider regional planning.
According to the legislation on legislation.gov.uk, most of the regulations took effect on 4 June 2026, the day after they were made, while the mayoral part does not start until 8 May 2028. The Secretary of State says the area met the legal tests, that a public consultation was carried out, that the four councils consented, and that both Houses of Parliament approved the draft. That matters because this is not just a policy promise. It is secondary legislation with legal force. The rules set out who sits on the authority, how decisions are taken, which powers move across, and who pays for the new system.
The authority itself is a legal body in its own right. Each constituent council appoints one elected member, and Hampshire County Council appoints one extra elected member, giving five council-appointed members before a mayor is elected. Each of those members must also have a named substitute. Before 2028, the authority must choose a chair and vice-chair from among its members. It can also include up to five non-constituent or associate members. **What this means:** the body may work across a bigger area, but it still starts with councillors appointed by existing local councils rather than replacing them.
The voting rules are designed to stop the new authority simply overruling individual councils on the biggest issues. Before the mayor arrives, ordinary decisions are by simple majority, but some of the most important ones need all five council-appointed members to agree. That includes the budget, the local transport plan, the constitution and any other major plans the authority chooses to protect in its standing orders. There is another safeguard as well. If a decision would create a financial liability for one council, affect land in that council's area, or exercise functions in that area, the member appointed by that council has to approve it. So power is being shared, but local consent still carries real weight.
The next big date is 4 May 2028, when the first mayoral election must be held. The first mayor's term begins on 8 May 2028, and elections then follow every four years on the ordinary local election day. From that point, local democracy changes shape. Under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, the mayor becomes a member and chair of the authority, and the regulations also allow the mayor to appoint one political adviser as an employee of the authority. Meetings will need the mayor or deputy mayor, plus at least four council-appointed members present, and winning majorities must include the mayor or deputy acting in that role. **What this means:** voters across the whole area will get one directly elected figure to lead some regional decisions, not just council leaders working things out between themselves.
Transport is where the changes are easiest to spot. Straight away, the authority can exercise certain passenger transport functions alongside the constituent councils, but only with the consent of each council in whose area those functions are to be used. It also shares responsibility for local transport plans from now until 8 May 2028. A local transport plan may sound technical, but it shapes daily life. It is the strategy that helps set priorities for roads, buses, walking, cycling and wider connectivity. In these first two years, that planning work is shared. After that, the balance changes.
Once the mayor's term starts on 8 May 2028, the local transport plan functions move to the Combined County Authority instead of the four councils, and those functions become general functions exercisable only by the mayor. The same is true of the authority's new grant-making power under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, so far as these regulations give it that role. This is one of the sharpest changes in the whole instrument. A single elected mayor will be able to lead the area's strategic transport planning and make grant decisions connected to highway spending, with authority members and officers assisting. If you want clearer lines of responsibility, that may feel like progress. If you worry about too much power gathering in one office, this is the part to keep your eye on.
Money still runs through the existing councils. The regulations say the constituent councils must meet the authority's costs, and also the costs tied to mayoral functions, unless those are covered from other resources. If the councils cannot agree how to split the bill, it is divided by population. There is a check on mayoral spending too. If mayoral costs are to be met by the councils in that way, the total has to be agreed in advance with the authority; without that agreement, the spending cannot go ahead. When the authority pays highway grants to councils, it must also consider whether those councils have enough money to do the job and what other funding they already have.
Beyond transport, the authority also gains concurrent powers around economic development and regeneration, plus information-sharing functions linked to crime and disorder work. It is given standard local authority-style powers to publish information and handle legal proceedings, and the regulations make technical arrangements for its first set of accounts. The explanatory note says no full regulatory impact assessment was prepared because the Government does not expect extra costs for business or the voluntary sector, and believes the public sector could save money through operational efficiencies. For most readers, though, the biggest takeaway is simpler. Hampshire and the Solent now has a new joint authority to act across council boundaries, and the biggest shift in how that power is used will come when voters choose a mayor in May 2028.