Test Valley Borough Council is no longer being abolished in 2028. The government withdrew Hampshire's merger on 7 September, so May 2027 is a borough poll.

Test Valley Borough Council is no longer due to be abolished on 1 April 2028. On Monday 7 September the government withdrew its decision to replace Hampshire’s councils with four new ones. The plan would have put Andover and Romsey into a new Mid Hampshire Council.

That changes the next vote. The election due in May 2027 now goes ahead as an ordinary Test Valley borough election, on today’s boundaries. Under the withdrawn plan it would have elected a temporary shadow council for the new authority instead.

The withdrawal is set out in a letter to council leaders from Jim McMahon, the Minister for Local Government. (Programme review and decisions withdrawal letter, 7 September 2026)

What has been withdrawn

The decision was made on 25 March 2026. (Decision letter, 25 March 2026) For Test Valley it meant:

  • the borough council and Hampshire County Council both abolished on 1 April 2028
  • Andover, Romsey and most of the borough joining East Hampshire, the New Forest and Winchester in Mid Hampshire Council
  • Chilworth, Nursling and Rownhams, and Valley Park moving to a South West Hampshire Council with Southampton and Eastleigh
  • shadow council elections in May 2027 replacing the normal local elections

All of that is now off. We reported the original decision on 24 August and have updated that article.

Timeline: the Hampshire reorganisation decision on 25 March 2026, a voluntary Mid Hampshire Joint Committee agreed on 22 July, scrutiny endorsing the direction of travel on 19 August, the decision withdrawn on 7 September, and an ordinary borough election on existing boundaries in May 2027. The 1 April 2028 start date is no longer scheduled.
Five and a half months from decision to withdrawal. The 2028 start date has gone with it.

What the government says

Hampshire is one of four areas whose March decisions were withdrawn. The others are Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock; Norfolk; and Suffolk.

The letter gives two reasons. The government has “listened to representations about the approach and pace of reorganisation”. And the Secretary of State acted “following updated legal advice”.

“Now is the time to pause and reflect,” Mr McMahon wrote. “It is important that this is done right.”

He will lead a review of the whole programme. It also covers the 14 decisions made in July for other parts of England. The letter gives no date for the review to finish. It promises only that “next steps are communicated early and clearly”.

On elections it is plain. Polls “scheduled to take place in May 2027 will go ahead to existing council boundaries.”

What Test Valley’s leader says

Councillor Phil North, the leader of Test Valley Borough Council, responded the same afternoon. (Test Valley Borough Council, 7 September 2026)

“It is frustrating that it feels that we have been marched up to the top of the hill, just to be marched back down again,” he said.

He said the pause gives the council “more time to deliver on our ambitious plans for our communities”. He named the next phases of town centre regeneration in Andover and Romsey.

He also restated two positions the council has held throughout:

  • “If LGR is to continue, that means creating a new authority where Test Valley communities are not dominated by a large urban area.”
  • The review is “another chance to lobby for all our Test Valley communities to remain together, including those in Chilworth, Nursling, Rownhams and Valley Park.”

The statement says nothing about how much the council has spent preparing for reorganisation. It does not mention the May 2027 election either.

The council’s own page still says 2028

On 11 September, the borough’s local government reorganisation page still said the new councils “will go live on 1 April 2028”. The page shows it was last updated on 31 March 2026. (Test Valley Borough Council, local government reorganisation) Treat anything on it about dates as out of date.

Decisions that leaned on 2028

Several things the council did this summer assumed the new councils were coming.

  • The Local Plan. On 22 July full Council agreed to restart its Local Plan under the new national system rather than submit the current draft by 31 December 2026. The minuted reasoning was partly reorganisation: the sensible option was to “pivot towards creating a local plan for the future unitary geography”. (Council minutes, 22 July 2026)
  • A Mid Hampshire Joint Committee. The same meeting agreed to set one up on a voluntary basis, with Cllr North as Test Valley’s representative.
  • Scrutiny. On 19 August the Overview and Scrutiny Committee endorsed “the direction of travel” on the council’s reorganisation work. That included a 12-month programme with the think tank New Local, piloting new local arrangements in Romsey and Andover. (Overview and Scrutiny, 19 August 2026)
  • Andover Museum. The £150,000 rescue package runs to March 2029, framed as a bridge through reorganisation. We covered it here.

None of these has been formally revisited since 7 September. The minutes, reports and funding papers all predate the withdrawal. Our planning news will follow whether the Local Plan approach changes.

When you vote

Test Valley’s borough councillors were last elected all together on 4 May 2023. Parish councils were elected on the same day. (Test Valley election results) The borough’s councillor list currently shows 43 members. (Councillors by ward)

Hampshire County Council is not part of next May’s vote. Its elections were postponed from 2025 and held on 7 May 2026. (Hampshire County Council, elections and voting)

What it means for you

  • Nothing changes to your services. Bins, planning and council tax stay with Test Valley. Roads, schools and social care stay with Hampshire County Council. The council tax bands and bin days pages are unaffected.
  • May 2027 is a borough election on your current ward. It is no longer a vote for a new Mid Hampshire council.
  • Chilworth, Nursling and Rownhams, and Valley Park stay in Test Valley. There is no longer a plan to move them to a Southampton-based council.
  • This may not be the end of it. The review has no deadline, and the government has not said reorganisation is cancelled. A new decision could bring back a different map.

We will report the review’s outcome for Andover and Romsey when it is published.

Sources