Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, by what means and on what date he was informed by (a) Poole Borough Council and (b) Bournemouth Borough Council that those councils did not consent to a new unitary authority comprising Poole and Bournemouth unless Christchurch Borough Council were included; and what reasons were given for the refusal to consent.

The position, including reasons, of Bournemouth and Poole Borough Councils in relation to the inclusion of Christchurch Borough in a new unitary authority was set out in their representations of 5 and 4 January 2018 respectively. Further to the answer Question UIN 129890 on 1 March 2018, I am placing these representations in the Library of the House.