Devon County Council’s leader has thanked local people for completing a survey for the Government’s consultation on local government reorganisation (LGR).
The seven-week consultation, which began on Thursday 5 February and ended on Thursday 26 March, offered Devon residents the opportunity to air their views on the options for the council’s restructuring to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Devon County Council is proposing a county-wide authority, with Torbay and Plymouth unitary councils remaining in place. It would be swift to implement, resilient to financial shocks and have the scale to improve vital front-line services.
“I’d like to thank the people of Devon for taking the time to offer their views on what is going to be the biggest shake-up of local government for decades,” said council leader Councillor Julian Brazil. “It’s so important that the voice of local people is heard by the Government when it makes its decision on how this wonderful county works from 2028.
“We are delighted that many people, businesses and public sector organisations have backed our preferred proposal, which produces the best result for critical services as well as being the most cost-effective solution.”
The county council’s preferred option would create £26.8m in annual savings, see a new Devon Unitary Council established with the services of councils in East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge and West Devon being brought under one roof at County Hall in Exeter.
It would allow for the management of issues such as roads, bin collections and car parks to be controlled by the new authority.
Under this proposal Plymouth City Council’s and Torbay Council’s responsibilities and boundaries would remain unchanged.
The Labour-run city councils in Plymouth and Exeter are proposing the establishment of four new unitary councils which would see Exeter swallow up 15 bordering parishes, while Plymouth would take in 13 parishes currently in the South Hams District Council area.
Under this proposal a third unitary council called Devon Coast and Countryside would be established but would not contain any of the county’s traditional economic hubs. Meanwhile, the fourth council would result in Torbay taking in 22 parishes from within Teignbridge and South Hams.
Councillor Brazil said: “The only viable option is the single new unitary authority that leaves Plymouth and Torbay as they are now. This is the only option that protects critical services for local people and leads to the least disruption for local people.
“All the other proposals will split the incredibly important work of children’s services, for example, just at a time when the Government’s own independent commissioner has said that this would damage the lives of young people in the county.
“It is also the only economically viable option. The suggestion that Plymouth and Labour city councils should take over vast swathes of the most revenue generating areas of Devon is just crazy. It leaves the rest of rural and coastal Devon to fend for itself without any major revenue generating centres. In effect the two Labour-led cities of Devon would be leaving rural council taxpayers with a council that would be bankrupt from day one.”
There are three other proposals that range from creating three to four new unitary authorities.
Earlier this week, Local Government Minister Steve Reed announced council reorganisation plans affecting Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Essex County Council has already stated it is considering legal action against the proposals.
The proposals will see county-wide social care services currently run by nine councils split between 16 new unitary authorities.