A new regional authority backed by a £1.3 billion devolution deal has been launched for Hampshire and the Solent.

The Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority (HSCCA) held its first board meeting in Southampton, marking the formal start of the new body.

Nick Adams-King, Conservative leader of Hampshire County Council, was appointed chairman, with Isle of Wight Council independent leader Jonathan Bacon appointed vice chairman.

The authority will take on devolved responsibilities from government in areas including transport, skills, housing and economic growth, as well as the environment, public safety, health and wellbeing, and culture.

The board will now lay the foundations for the authority ahead of the first regional mayoral election in May 2028.

Councils will continue to run every day services for residents.

Speaking after the inaugural meeting, Cllr Adams-King said the launch marked the culmination of a decade of work, while acknowledging the delay to electing a mayor.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This is the end of a 10-year journey that brings us to this point and it is a fantastic achievement for everybody to have got to the point where we have a combined authority, where we can elect a mayor.

“It’s really disappointing that I’m chair and not the mayor if I’m honest with you because the mayor should have been elected in May and the government decided to put it back two years but this gives us an opportunity to establish a framework so that when a mayor is elected they can get straight under way with whatever their priorities are going to be.”

The other constituent board members are George Madgwick (Reform UK) from Hampshire County Council, Sarah Bogle (Labour) from Southampton City Council and Steve Pitt (Liberal Democrat) from Portsmouth City Council.

HSCCA has been created through the government’s devolution priority programme, with funding worth £1.3 billion over 30 years, including £44.6 million a year from 2028.

Government will make 40 per cent of that annual funding available for the two years before the mayor is elected.

Cllr Adams-King said the funding could be used directly but would also act as seed funding to attract further investment and support economic growth.

He said the authority’s work would focus on improving outcomes in some of the most deprived communities across the region.

“That could be Leigh Park in Havant, central Gosport, Lordshill in Southampton, King Arthurs Way in Andover, Popley in Basingstoke, Charles Dickens in Portsmouth or central Newport on the island.

“The important thing is when you improve those people’s lives you improve the lives of us all because that means less expense for us all in supporting people who aren’t in work.

“It means productive communities that are contributing to the whole and it also means better outcomes from health as well and that’s on of the big pressures we all know that we face.”

He said the devolution deal would give the region greater control over its future, rather than relying on decisions made in Whitehall.

Cllr Adams-King said: “Why is that all important?

“It all sounds quite dry but at the end of the day it means we as a community across all of Hampshire and the Solent can decide our future in a much more direct way than we have done.

“We don’t become part of that kind of decision from Whitehall the whole time.

“We can decide who we elect as mayor, we can decide through them how we prioritise different pieces of work, we can ensure we improve the lives of people across the region in the ways that are most important to us and most directly beneficial.”