Maria Price:

Role and responsibilities

Maria is responsible for legal services, registration of births, marriages and deaths, HM Coroners, democratic support and scrutiny.

Maria is the Monitoring Officer for Devon County Council and is also leading on the council’s equality diversity and inclusion commitments. She can be contacted by email at maria.price@devon.gov.uk.

Biography

Maria was appointed as Director of Legal and Democratic Services for Devon County Council in 2022 and has not looked back since.

Maria’s career started fresh from Bar School as a barrister working in an employment consultancy, covering employment tribunals across the UK, from Glasgow to Kent.

Her career then took her to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands where she worked for over 19 years. She started at Sandwell as an assistant solicitor/barrister covering employment and some criminal prosecution work, before qualifying as a solicitor.

As Assistant Director of Legal and Assurance, the Deputy Monitoring Officer and Data Protection Officer (DPO) for the Council, Maria was involved in a full governance review and established an Equality Commission in Sandwell to drive forward the Council’s equality agenda and create a dedicated Equality Diversion and Inclusion Team.

Maria’s big ambition links to Devon County Council’s priority to operate as one council, delivering excellent services for people, and improving at pace to make Devon a fairer and more equal place.

Outside of work, Maria loves nothing more than putting on her scruffs, getting on her quad bike and thinking of nothing. She loves to travel, swim, walk, spend time with her family and eat and drink too much!

Maria loves everything about Devon; the welcoming people, unique traditions (barrels of flaming tar rolling), the beautiful woodlands, unspoiled countryside and wildlife, the impressive coastline and clean beaches, bustling cities full of her favourite shops, and of course an excellent university. She lives in a very rural area with no streetlights so her favourite part by far is the night sky.