When I first heard about Labour government plans that involved scrapping New Forest District Council and Hampshire County Council in favour of creating new authorities, my immediate reaction was “this didn’t work well for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole”… very few people think it did…. so why repeat the mistake ?

What is so broken that it needs to be fixed ? The problem isn’t that the existing authorities were inefficient, it was simply that those with the burdens of ever increasing cost of social care and SEND provision don’t have adequate funding and the problem is that Government has failed to come up with a better way of resourcing these things.

I attended a briefing today, provided by the Chief Executive of Hampshire County Council. A number of Councillors expressed concern at the risks of going down this route and deep unhappiness at some of the proposed changes which means communities being split and rural areas being combined with urban/ City areas… the New Forest being a prime example.

You don’t need to know too much about the complexities of local government to question the wisdom of what the Secretary of State for Local Government has decided to impose.

The cost of changing from the current system to the new set up has been estimated at between £80 million and £120 million. I have heard elsewhere that any benefits from efficiencies may not be achieved for about ten years.

It is clear to me that LGR is a terrible, terrible, decision. It is high risk, involving key areas such as social care for our most vulnerable and Children’s services.

It doesn’t address the real issue of adequate funding. Officers will be distracted from their important day jobs of wrestling with one of the most complex changes that they will ever have to contend with in their careers.

I voted, at every stage, not to support LGR, along with my Lib Dem colleagues. The Conservatives decided to pursue the fast track approach and are now mostly deeply regretting it.

I am supporting the New Forest Together Campaign and await with interest to see what the top lawyers say about the prospects of a legal challenge.

In politics, people and political parties make mistakes… they all do…. sometimes the best thing is to hold up your hands and admit it and do your best to put things right.