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The regional authority
Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority: regional transport, skills and growth. Your everyday council services stay local.
The regional authority
- Local transport plan functions (Transport Act 2000 ss.108, 109, 112)
- Passenger transport functions (Transport Act 1985 s.63)
- Power to pay grant (Local Government Act 2003 s.31), including highway maintenance grant to councils
- General power of competence for economic development and regeneration
- Crime and disorder information sharing
- Nine statutory areas of competence
Stays with the city council
- Bin collections, libraries, schools, social care, local planning
- Deciding planning applications
- Highways (roads, pavements, potholes)
- Public health, individual care and support services
- Local transport delivery and bus services until 2028
- Council housing, housing allocations, council tax, school admissions
£1.3bninvestment fund over 30 years
£44.6ma year once a mayor is in post
Cllr Steve PittPortsmouth's seat on the board (1 of 5)
What transfers when
- 4 June 2026Legally established
- August 2027 (2027/28 academic year)Adult Skills Fund commissioning (Consolidated Adult Skills Fund)
- September 2027Careers Hub contract
- 4 May 2028First mayor elected
- Once the mayor takes officeSole Local Transport Authority; local transport plan becomes mayor-only
- Once the mayor takes officeMayor-only transport powers: Key Route Network, bus franchising decision, direction of councils on KRN roads
- Once the mayor takes officeMayoral planning powers: Mayoral Development Corporations, Mayoral Development Orders, Mayoral CIL, call-in of strategic planning applications
Not the same as council reorganisation. The plan to merge Portsmouth City Council was withdrawn on 7 September 2026 and is under review. The regional authority is separate and already operating.
For example
My bin wasn’t collected
Council
There’s a pothole / broken pavement on my road
Council
Objecting to a planning application
Council
Board and governance
| Member | Role | Appointed by |
|---|---|---|
| Cllr Nick Adams-King | Chair | Hampshire County Council (lead appointment) |
| Cllr George Madgwick | Board member | Hampshire County Council (second appointment) |
| Cllr Jonathan Bacon | Vice-Chair | Isle of Wight Council |
| Cllr Steve Pitt | Board member | Portsmouth City Council |
| Cllr Sarah Bogle | Board member | Southampton City Council |
Legal form: mayoral combined county authority (mayoral CCA). Tier: Mayoral (not yet Established Mayoral). Set up by The Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/595).