From Mike Bomford, Exeter 382173, July 07,2008

Devon County Council has today welcomed the Boundary Committee decision that a single unitary council for Devon is the preferred option to go forward for consultation as part of its ongoing review into the feasibility of creating a unitary local government structure in the county.

The Boundary Committee's clear view is that the people of Devon will be 'best served' by a unitary authority covering the whole of Devon.

Under the proposal, the boundaries of Plymouth and Torbay would be left unchanged.

This proposal will now be the subject of a 12 week consultation period prior to the Boundary Committee making its final recommendation to Government by the end of the year.

In a joint statement from Devon County Council, the Leader, Cllr Brian Greenslade, and Shadow Leader, Cllr John Hart, said:

"We welcome today's announcement and are pleased that the Boundary Committee has seen strength in the argument put forward by a number of councils that a single unitary council for Devon is best placed to cut costs, deliver value for money and reduce the burden of Council Tax.

"We believe that keeping Devon strong and united will ensure the capacity to manage major services like education and social care for the elderly and to make the big investments needed to invigorate the County's economy and prosperity as a whole.

"At the same time we think it also provides the best option for delivering high quality, responsive and accountable local services across the whole of Devon.

"We are particularly pleased that the Boundary Committee has emphasised the importance of devolving power to local communities via local Community Boards and a powerful City Board for Exeter which was such a major feature of our original submission.

"We recognise that this announcement is only one milestone on a long journey which will have a huge impact on our great County and we will now wish to involve all partners and stakeholders in planning for the future."

"In the meantime, we pledge that the County Council will remain focussed on providing frontline services whilst we go through the remaining stages of the review."

Note to Editors

The Boundary Committee report can be accessed via their website from midday today: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/boundary-reviews/all-reviews/south-west/devon/devon-structural-review

The Boundary Committee say in their report:

4.10 We consider it an advantage that our draft proposal does not seek to divide the county area and create what might be regarded as artificial boundaries. Rather, we see the role of a single unitary council as bringing together the various communities, both rural and urban, and building a cohesive response to the challenges facing the county as a whole.

4.13 We consider that the proposals set out by the County Council in its concept have the capacity to address these concerns. It is envisaged a neighbourhood empowerment scheme would create 28 Community Boards based around the 28 market towns of Devon, together with a City Board for Exeter with broader responsibilities.

The Council envisaged Community Boards would include the following members: town mayor, town and parish councillors, unitary councillors and representatives from key public service partners. The neighbourhood empowerment arrangements envisaged seek to build upon the identity and ties people currently have with their market town.

4.26 All structural change has a cost. However, we are of the view that those costs would be minimised by the creation of a county-wide unitary in Devon.

In comparison, the creation of two, three or more unitary authorities in Devon, with its particular geography and communication links, could put at risk the delivery of value for money in service provision and potentially have higher transition costs.

For example, a multi-unitary pattern would require the disaggregation of the services currently provided by the County Council as well as bringing together the local services delivered by the district councils within each new unitary authority.

It has been argued that a multi-unitary pattern may go some way towards mitigating the problems arising from some of the difficulties in working across the whole of Devon such as population scarcity and poor communications.

However, we have significant concerns that a multi-unitary pattern in the county of Devon, which would result in small rural unitary authorities without a significant economic centre, could struggle to provide value-for-money services and economies of scale. It is also probable that this model would require a number of joint arrangements for the delivery of upper-tier services.