Devon County Council

There are many outstanding reasons why Devon is such a wonderful place to live. At Devon County Council we are committed to make living in Devon even better for everyone; our Strategic Plan set this out in 2006, with improving the quality of life in Devon based at the heart of what we do.

Introduction

This, our second Annual Report, tells you how we are doing against our priorities set out in the Strategic Plan and again brings together our achievements, performance and accounts information into one easy-to-read document, saving money and the environment in the process.

Others agree – last year’s Annual Report won a prestigious communications award for its clear design, use of simple language, concise messages and bright images.

I am delighted to say that after the successful sale of Exeter Airport, which netted £48 million for Devon, we are now re-investing this money in projects all over our county. The money has been allocated between different funds targeting different areas of need – local, green, community, economic development, schools and major projects.

We have already helped projects with millions of pounds – for example a range of youth support services in Colyton, Tavistock, Torrington, Dawlish, South Molton and Exeter, giving positive ways for young people to spend their time, alongside a wide range of services to support them, all done in consultation with the young people themselves to ensure their needs are met.

And in line with our commitment to put communities at the heart of our investment, the Local Members Fund will support smaller projects which can make a significant difference to towns and villages in Devon. The Fund allows each County Councillor to bid for up to £25,000, and there is the facility for groups to club together for larger projects. This enhances the cash injection that Devon County Councillors already give to projects in their local areas through the County Committee Fund, which allows them £10,000 each year for one-off grants for community activities.

One year after the Barnstaple Western Bypass was opened we are seeing a vast improvement to the congestion in the town centre with over 20,000 vehicles per day using it - a year ago most of this traffic flow would have been finding its way through Barnstaple town centre. It is bringing enormous economic and environmental gains to the area and it is also very pleasing to be able to record that the bypass has already won 'green' awards for its construction.

Throughout this report we have highlighted some of the ways we are making Devon greener. Climate change is one of the major challenges we face in the future – and we are proud of our robust response. We are supporting local food producers, investing in ways to help people leave their cars at home, and promising to reduce our own carbon emissions. We also launched the “Lets do it for Devon” campaign to cut energy consumption in the county, saving carbon and money.

Last year we won a handful of green accolades including praise from The Carbon Trust which highlighted Devon County Council as an “excellent example of this success”, “thanks to the foundation of its thoroughly developed strategy and Devon's groundbreaking implementation plan”. We were also named as the South West's greenest local council by Regen SW, the agency for renewable energy as the most proactive local authority in the region.

Thanks to the superb support of the people of Devon we reached a recycling rate of 50% for the first time, one of the very highest rates in the country.

This Annual Report shows you how we are performing, if we have achieved against our promises from last year and shows you our plans for the future.

Brian Greenslade

Leader of Devon County Council

• Working together for you
• Our priorities
• Performance summary
• Balance sheet
• Finding out more
• Appendices

To request a copy of the Annual Report please email communications@devon.gov.uk with your postal address.  Alternatively you can download the full booklets in pdf format below.

• Download full Annual Report 2008 (1.87MB - pdf help)
• Download Appendices (3.02MB - pdf help)