{"id":69295,"date":"2026-03-27T15:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/?p=69295"},"modified":"2026-04-01T08:56:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:56:35","slug":"devon-county-council-leader-thanks-local-people-backing-local-government-reorganisation-consultation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/devon-county-council-leader-thanks-local-people-backing-local-government-reorganisation-consultation\/","title":{"rendered":"Devon County Council leader thanks local people for backing Local Government Reorganisation consultation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Devon County Council\u2019s leader has thanked local people for completing a survey for the Government\u2019s consultation on local government reorganisation (LGR).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s restructuring to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"LGR proposal - supporting video\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/UhccU2zkoNc?feature=oembed&#038;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Devon County Council is proposing&nbsp;a county-wide authority, with Torbay and Plymouth unitary councils&nbsp;remaining&nbsp;in place. It&nbsp;would be swift to implement, resilient to financial shocks and have the scale to improve vital front-line services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d 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,\u201d said council leader Councillor Julian Brazil. \u201cIt\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The county council\u2019s preferred option would create \u00a326.8m 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It would allow for the management of issues such as roads, bin collections and car parks to be controlled by the new authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under this proposal Plymouth City Council\u2019s and Torbay Council\u2019s responsibilities and boundaries would remain unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under this proposal a third unitary council called Devon Coast and Countryside would be established but would not contain any of the county\u2019s traditional economic hubs. Meanwhile, the fourth council would result in Torbay taking in 22 parishes from within Teignbridge and South Hams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Councillor Brazil said: \u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAll the other proposals will split the incredibly important work of children\u2019s services, for example, just at a time when the Government\u2019s own independent commissioner has said that this would damage the lives of young people in the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>There are three other proposals that range from creating three to four new unitary authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this week, Local Government&nbsp;Minister&nbsp;Steve Reed&nbsp;announced&nbsp;council&nbsp;reorganisation plans affecting&nbsp;Essex, Hampshire,&nbsp;Norfolk&nbsp;and Suffolk. Essex County Council has already stated it is considering legal action against the proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proposals will see county-wide social care services currently run by nine councils split between 16 new unitary authorities.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":69298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[34,2226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-devolution"],"acf":[],"featured_image":{"ID":69298,"title":"Resizing pics for News Centre (14)","alt":"It\u2019s 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 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