Four new large authorities could replace the current 14 councils across Hampshire, under fresh proposals for local government reorganisation (LGR).

Councils across the county have worked together on a joint submission to the government’s LGR agenda, which seeks to replace two-tier structures, where district and county councils share services, with larger unitary authorities delivering all services to populations of around 500,000.

Under the plan, published today, four unitary authorities would be created on mainland Hampshire, with the Isle of Wight remaining as a stand-alone unitary council.

The option is estimated to save at least £63.9m annually and is supported by 12 of the 15 councils in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Portsmouth City Council Leader Cllr Steve Pitt said: “Our position remains that Portsmouth should be left out of local government reorganisation, because we already have a single council that is financially stable and delivers strong local services to residents. This is backed by Portsmouth residents who took our recent survey, with 82% agreeing that Portsmouth should be left alone.

“If the government does force change upon us, Portsmouth agrees with the vast majority of Hampshire councils that the best option for reorganisation is not to have less than four mainland unitary councils. This would create councils that are of sufficient size under the government’s criteria to deliver major services for the nearly two million Hampshire residents and be financially sustainable, while still being local enough to understand their communities.

“In this scenario, Portsmouth, Gosport, Havant and Fareham would be likely to join together under one new, larger council. Our survey showed that if the government did force Portsmouth to remain part of the reorganisation process, 61 per cent of those who expressed a preference would support this option over any other.”

Supporters of the proposals say they would help drive economic growth, redesign services tailored to local needs and give residents more say in shaping decisions.

Each council will formally consider the plans before the deadline for submissions to government on Friday 26 September.