Hampshire council chiefs are waiting to learn if proposals for devolution have met the government’s statutory tests.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is expected to confirm this month if the planned regional authority and elected mayoralty can continue to the next phase.

As part of the government’s priority programme, work is ongoing to create a new mayoral combined county authority (MCCA) for Hampshire and the Solent.

If all goes to plan, elections for the first regional mayor would take place in May next year.

This individual would likely have responsibility for areas such as skills, transport and strategic planning, with funding and powers transferred down from Westminster.

MHCLG ran a public consultation, which closed in mid-April, on the devolution proposals.

Members of Southampton City Council’s governance committee were told the next stage involved ministers confirming if statutory tests had been met.

Munira Holloway, Southampton City Council’s director of strategy and performance, said a decision on this was due in mid to late June.

If the tests have been met, it is expected the government would confirm their intention to lay the relevant legislation for the new mayoral authority to be created.

Ms Holloway said a regional programme board had already been established, with representatives from the four upper tier authorities (Hampshire County Council, Isle of Wight Council, Portsmouth City Council and Southampton City Council) and two of the 11 districts.

A number of key work streams had also been set up with leads agreed across the region, the committee heard.

“There are regular meetings held with MHCLG, so there is two-way discussion around that and they keep us informed and updated on what’s happening from a central government perspective and we are providing updates as to what’s happening here,” Ms Holloway said.

“As far as Southampton specifically is concerned, the programme is relatively light touch.

“We have all of the relevant people associated with the work streams and leading some of the work streams from a Southampton perspective but in terms of what’s actually needed on the ground, there is not a huge amount of involvement at this point in time.

“We are ramping up a bit so expect more over the next few months.”

The timeline for devolution in Hampshire and the Solent set out to councillors was as follows:

The devolution process is separate from work ongoing around local government reorganisation (LGR).

The government’s national LGR plans are to end of the current two-tier structure through the creation of larger unitary authorities that deliver all council services.