Maria Price, our Director of Legal and Democratic Services, joined Devon County Council on 24 October 2022.
Maria is responsible for legal services; registration of births, marriages and deaths; HM Coroners, democratic support and scrutiny. She has also recently taken the lead on Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) commitments.
Maria recently spoke about joining Devon County Council, her role and why she was drawn to working in local government. She said:
I joined Devon at a very exciting time and feel very privileged to be working with such a talented group of people. While we have some challenges, I am confident that we will overcome them and look forward to our future.
I am incredibly excited to be leading on the EDI agenda and can’t wait to work on this.
What drew you to working in local government?
I absolutely love variety, complex problem solving, working with other people and getting the best result possible. Achieving excellent results for the Council and our residents, and changing lives for the better is what drew me to local government.
What does your role involve?
The excellent services that I am responsible for really do quite literally touch every area of life from registration of new births to the final registration of death and when required the coroners’ services. We support all the major works of the Council and every directorate of the Council in one way or another.
We have responsibility for the democratic decision making of the Council and ensuring public engagement and transparency. My big ambition really links to the Council priorities – to drive forward, at pace, making Devon a fairer and more equal place. And to make Devon the best place in the country for all our children to grow up and thrive, live well and prosper.
What do you like about living and working in Devon?
I love everything about Devon, the welcoming people, unique traditions (I’ll just mention barrels of flaming tar rolling), the beautiful woodland, unspoiled country side and wildlife, the impressive coastline and clean beaches and a bustling city.
Where I live is very rural with no street lights, so my favourite part by far is the night sky.
Discover more about why our employees love working for Devon.