Plans for a new Wessex strategic authority that would have included Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire councils plus the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) unitary authority have been shelved by the government – for …

The government is planning a major shake-up in the way local government is organised in England, and this includes the possibility of a new ‘Heart of Wessex’ strategic authority with an elected mayor. …