Devon council hokey cokey continues as government goes back to the drawing board

A controversial overhaul of Devon’s councils has gone back to the drawing board as government ministers prepare to think again about the proposals.

The decision to split Devon into four new larger councils and scrap district and county councils was put on hold early in September and that solution will now be reconsidered.

Addressing Parliament today (Thursday, October 29), minister Jim McMahon said Devon would be among nine areas of England where “more time” was needed and the government would “use the coming months to further consider proposals.”

He gave no dates for when decisions for individual areas would be made but said he hoped some updates would be made by Christmas or early next year.

After months of preparation work by Devon’s councils to present options for carving up the county, the previous government administration chose to opt for expanding the councils of Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay while lumping the vast majority of the rest of the region into one ‘Devon Council’.

The decision was highly unpopular with most outside the three ‘cities’ and Devon County Council had been preparing to launch a bid for a judicial review to overturn it.

Speaking today, the minister said the move was “not a reflection on the work underpinning the proposals,” adding that “all options remain under consideration” and that it “should not be assumed the same proposal will automatically be selected.”

Councils had spent months preparing for the changes since the idea of local government reorganisation (LGR) was first aired in late 2024 by Westminster, with officer time and finances diverted towards the proposed overhaul.

It is understood Devon County Council alone spent in the region of £2million on a process that now won’t happen, or at least not in the original timetable.

The government has already said the May 2027 elections will now go ahead as normal for the existing councils.

Mr McMahon said he understood councils had “incurred costs in good faith” and they would receive half of previously announced transition funding in the coming weeks. This would equate to £450,000 per unitary council previously announced.

Critics of the large ‘Devon’ council, which would have stretched around 110 miles from the furthest southern reaches of the South Hams to the most northerly point in North Devon, feared it would have left the bulk of the county’s residents living in a cash-strapped council with no economic hub.

But Plymouth and Exeter claimed the changes would have enabled the cities to achieve the economic growth they are being held back from achieving.

Devon was confirmed as an area allowed to elect a mayor at this week’s Budget, but Mr McMahon stressed that unitary councils underneath mayors was the preferred structure the government was aiming for as part of its efforts to “rewire” the state.

Devon already has a combined county authority (CCA), which is a quasi-mayoral entity but which has not included Plymouth and specifically does not include a mayor.

Now, a mayor looks set to be in place by 2028 to oversee more strategic investment across the entire county, likely focusing on areas such as transport, housing and infrastructure.

It’s expected the CCA will cease and be replaced by a mayoral strategic authority (MSA). This new authority could be in place around a year before a mayor is actually elected, with that position potentially filled in 2028.

This means 2028 could be a busy year, as Mr McMahon said elections for prospective new local councils would go ahead in May 2028, with the creation of new councils happening in May 2029.

Mr McMahon said there would be a three-week period for people to make representations and that the government would make so-called ‘minded to’ decisions, which could allow for tweaks to the government’s chosen option.