County Councils' Network (CCN) chairman Paul Carter has backed calls for an independent Royal Commission into devolution, complaining that without it there would be a 'punch up' between districts and counties in two-tier areas. Cllr Carter, Tory leader of Kent CC, told a seminar this week: 'We need an impartial view about how to work together.' His comments follow a letter from Hampshire CC leader Roy Perry to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) formally calling for a Royal Commission into devolution. Hampshire has been a battleground between proponents of a pan-Hampshire unitary - including Cllr Perry - and those districts and unitaries backing separate Solent and Heart of Hampshire combined authorities.
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