HAMPSHIRE County Council is threatening to pull out of a flagship waste partnership after a row over its management.

Project Integra, a pioneering link with all 14 councils in Hampshire, won Beacon status in 2000 and is among the best-known local authority waste partnerships, reaching a recycling rate for the county of 25% in 2003/04.

But the county is considering quitting the 11-year-old consortium over what it describes as a "lack of shared vision... and the way it needs to develop to meet the challenge of a significantly higher rate of recycling."

The announcement came at a meeting of the management board in Winchester. Cllr Jim Wagner, a member, said: "I was in a state of shock and I think other people were as well."

The row centres on the reporting relationship of Integra executive officer, Steve Read, to local authority bosses. Mr Read currently reports to the board, on which each council has one member-and one vote-but the county council, which foots most of Hampshire's £80m a year waste bill, wants a bigger say.

Keith Estlin proposed that Mr Read should report to a small group of council chief executives, including Hampshire, Portsmouth, or Southampton and one or two district councils. But the board threw out his proposal.

Mr Estlin, HCC executive member for the environment, who is standing down in May, then gave notice Hampshire was quitting Project Integra.

This was later toned down in a statement to "considering withdrawing". A decision is not now expected until after the county council elections.

In the statement, HCC director of environment, Alison Quant, said: "The view of the Project Integra board is clearly quite different from the county and it reflects a wider malaise, so we feel it may be inappropriate for us as an authority to remain on the board any longer."

She said if Hampshire pulled out, the county would continue to work with the waste collection authorities, that is the district councils, and with Portsmouth and Southampton city councils. But it would be outside current partnership arrangements which were "hindering progress."

Ms Quant said: "We were instrumental in setting up Project Integra in 1994 and have put a great deal of effort into its successes. We are disappointed it seems to have lost its way."

Hampshire, excluding Portsmouth and Southampton, achieved a recycling rate of 27% in 2003/04, putting it third top in the country. But the rates of partner councils vary widely between Eastleigh, with 29% and Southampton, at the bottom at 10%.

Mr Read said: "The county seem to have a problem with partner authorities not pulling their weight. While some are in the top 10 in the country, others have a way to go before they get there, so there is some impatience with recycling performance across the county."

But he said the voting system was "extremely democratic" and a key strength, helping to win £12m in grants from Defra to boost recycling services.

Roland Dibbs, chairman of the Integra board, said: "I hope Hampshire is not leaving. Its strength is that all councils can influence how we deal with waste in the widest sense. We have been successful because we have worked towards common goals in a joined-up way. What one authority does has a knock-on effect and we clearly need to work together"