Doubts have been cast over what benefits local communities will see through devolving powers from Westminster.

The concerns were expressed by East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) members who worked on drafting a response on the creation of a mayoral combined county authority (MCCA) for Hampshire and the Solent.

Councils have been formalising their stances for the public consultation, which features seven questions covering themes of potential benefits and governance arrangements for the new regional authority.

Members of EHDC’s overview and scrutiny management committee were presented with a report summarising a working party’s conclusions at a meeting on Thursday, April 4.

The working party included scrutiny committee members Cllr Phillip Davies and Cllr Penny Flux.

Cllr Davies, Conservative representative for Binsted, Bentley and Selborne, said: “I think we don’t honestly know actually what the benefit will be for local community or not and more importantly how we get that across to residents.

“There’s a concern that as we move further away from Petersfield and away from being more local, what does that mean and how will that impact the public?”

Cllr Flux, Whitehill and Bordon Community Party councillor for Lindford, added: “There continues to be a massive grey area around this and so much that we don’t know, so the answers were constructed around trying to translate that as best we could.”

Cllr David Podger, scrutiny committee chair and Liberal Democrat member for Petersfield St Peter’s, said the devolution process was still “rather vague and difficult”.

A senior officer outlined the working party’s response to the consultation questions.

They agreed that an MCCA will bring benefits to the area, support the economy and social outcomes, and bring improvements to the local natural environment.

However, the working party strongly disagreed with the proposed governance arrangements. This largely related to the limited level of district council representation on the combined authority.

A stance of neither agree nor disagree was put forward for the impact on local government services.

The committee unanimously voted to recommend to cabinet that the working party’s draft responses be included in the council’s response to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Council leader Cllr Richard Millard said cabinet will review the report and either add, remove or supplement it when it meets on Thursday, April 10, ahead of the consultation closing date three days later.

Hampshire and the Solent was accepted onto the government’s devolution priority programme in February.

This set the ball rolling for the MCCA to be created and the first election taking place in May 2026.

The mayor is set to have responsibility for areas such as skills, transport and strategic planning, with powers and funding transferred down from Westminster.