The Havant Borough Council cabinet is scheduled to meet on 25 September 2025 to discuss local government reorganisation, budget monitoring, debt management and building control services. The meeting will cover the first quarter revenue and capital budget monitoring report, a debt management review, and building control service provision. Councillors will also consider local government reorganisation in Hampshire.

Local Government Reorganisation in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

The cabinet is scheduled to discuss a report regarding the government's Devolution Priority Programme (DPP), which includes Havant Borough Council and other councils in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. As part of the DPP, district, unitary, and county councils may merge to form larger unitary councils under Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).

The report pack includes a proposal to establish four mainland unitary authorities and one island unitary authority. The report states that the Secretary of State formally requested interim LGR proposals by 21 March 2025, with full business cases due by 26 September 2025. Ministers will then decide on their preferred option for LGR in Hampshire.

The report pack mentions that the council worked with other councils in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, supported by KPMG, to reach a consensus on an interim plan. However, it was not possible to reach an agreement among all 15 councils. The interim plan, approved by all 15 councils, was submitted to the government on 21 March 2025.

Since then, the council and KPMG have appraised options for unitary councils against government criteria, using 44 metrics and various data sources. This process appraised eight options, for between 2 and 5 unitary councils to replace the existing councils.

The report pack states that Hampshire County Council and East Hampshire District Council withdrew from the joint process to pursue an alternative proposal. Gosport Borough Council also left the joint process. The remaining councils, including the 3 existing unitary councils and 9 district and borough councils, have developed a full proposal for government. The 12 councils are:

• Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
• Eastleigh Borough Council
• Fareham Borough Council
• Hart District Council
• Havant Borough Council
• Isle of Wight Council
• New Forest District Council
• Portsmouth City Council
• Rushmoor Borough Council
• Southampton City Council
• Test Valley Borough Council
• Winchester City Council

The report pack states that the 12 councils continued to work collaboratively to develop a full proposal with three variations of four new mainland unitaries and the Isle of Wight remaining independent. Each variation is based on establishing a unitary council centred around the four major urban economies and population centres of Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester and Basingstoke.

The options are:

• Option 1: New Forest forms part of 'Mid Hampshire' (including Test Valley, Winchester and East Hants).
• Option 2: New Forest forms part of 'South West Hampshire' (including Southampton and Eastleigh).
• Option 1A: Includes boundary changes.

All three options include a South East Hampshire Unitary encompassing the existing boroughs of Havant, Fareham, Gosport and Portsmouth.

The report pack states that Option 1A, the council's preferred option, is based on Option 1 but is subject to a request for modification by the government. This option would create a new unitary in the South West of the region formed by the existing boundaries of Southampton City Council and Eastleigh Borough Council joined with the parishes of Valley Park, Chilworth, Nursling and Rownhams, Totton and Eling, Marchwood Hythe and Dibden and Fawley. The South East of the region would develop a new unitary that comprised of the existing boundaries of Fareham, Gosport, Portsmouth, Havant, and the parishes of Newlands, Horndean, Clanfield and Rowlands Castle.

The report pack claims that this configuration would unify Hampshire's main trading gateways, key transport links, the port, the Waterside infrastructure and related industrial land together for great economic and growth potential for the region as a whole.

The final decision will be made by the Secretary of State, with potential elections to new shadow unitary councils in May 2027 if a proposal is implemented.

Quarter 1 Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Report

The cabinet is scheduled to discuss the council's Quarter 1 Revenue, Capital and Prudential Indicators Forecast Outturn Reports for 2025/26.

The report pack states that the Quarter 1 net outturn is £20.3 million, against an original budget of £19.5 million, resulting in an operational overspend of £0.8 million (4%). The General Fund and Financial Management reserves are critically low, with only £915,000 available to offset the projected overspend.

The report pack also states that during the 2025/26 budget setting process, a 5% in-year savings target was applied across all budget lines and that following a review of the budget and savings some movement between budget lines is recommended to support monitoring processes, though the overall balanced budget position remains unaffected.

The capital forecast outturn for 2025/26 is £10 million, compared to the approved Capital Programme of £21.5 million, resulting in a projected slippage of £11.5 million.

The most significant budget variance is within the Housing Service, with an overspend of £1.1 million due to the nationwide housing crisis, costs associated with temporary accommodation and homelessness prevention. The report pack claims that the shortage of affordable housing has reduced the availability of permanent placements for families and significantly increased the cost of temporary accommodation and that under current housing benefit subsidy rules, the council is unable to reclaim the full cost of temporary accommodation from the Department for Work and Pensions.

The report pack also notes an adverse variance within the Commercial directorate, primarily driven by under-recovery of property income at the Meridian Centre, and an adverse variance in the Regeneration, Economic Development and Preventative Services directorate is primarily driven by the under-recovery of parking fee income, as the decision is currently on hold pending further review.

The report pack states that a review is currently underway to classify all services as either statutory or discretionary and that if the current overspend continues, reductions or cessation of discretionary spending may be necessary to mitigate the deficit.

Debt Management Review

The cabinet is scheduled to discuss Havant Borough Council's Debt Management Policy revised as at September 2025.

The report pack states that Havant Borough Council has a duty to ensure the prompt and cost-effective billing, collection and recovery of all sums due to the Council and that the debt management policy seeks to set out the key principles that the Council will apply to ensure that it is supportive, efficient and effective in its collection.

The policy is reviewed annually and amended in line with best practice and has been updated this year to allow for debts under £10,000 to be referred to Legal Services to undertake the debt collection processes. All debts will be reviewed on a case by case basis, taking into account individual circumstances.

The report pack notes that as at 31st March 2025 debts under £10,000 totalled 21% of all outstanding debts and that invoices with a value of under £10,000 make up a significant portion of all Council invoices, and as at 31st March 2025 94% of all overdue invoices had debts outstanding of under £10,000.

The report pack states that the update to the policy allows for debts to be referred to Legal Services at any value if recovery is highly probable.

The report pack also refers to the Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020, which provides legal protection for individuals in problem debt.

Building Control Service Provision

The cabinet is scheduled to discuss a report regarding Building Control service provision.

The report pack states that Building Control in Havant is currently provided in partnership with East Hampshire District Council and that the shared service has been in place since 2020 and is led by East Hampshire District Council, and during this time delivery of the service has resulted in higher than forecast service costs.

As the current arrangement is financially unsustainable, options have been explored for an alternative service delivery model. The report pack recommends that the council join the existing Building Control Partnership currently comprising Fareham Borough Council, Gosport Borough Council and Portsmouth City Council, which has been in place since 2001.

The report pack claims that becoming part of the Building Control Partnership provides a range of benefits, not least reduced annual costs and greater cost certainty together with service resilience and development opportunities.

The report pack notes that on 16 April 2025 the council formally wrote to EHDC to provide six-months' notice of termination of the current arrangement, as per the terms of the IAA.

The report pack states that the Building Control Partnership currently uses Ocella for IT, which will become an unsupported system by the end of 2026 therefore there is no benefit in incurring costs for HBC to transition to Ocella and that HBC Building Control will continue to use IDOX Cloud from the commencement of entry into the BCP as its main IT system.

The report pack also notes that the net annual cost of joining the BCP is £92,000 (against a budget of £95,354) and that this is significantly lower than the current actual annual cost, providing an annual reduction in costs and increased certainty.

The report pack states that under the MOU with the Building Control Partnership, the service would transfer under the control of Fareham Borough Council, meaning the existing team are considered within scope of TUPE¹.