A Northern Devon council ‘would fail’ says Torridge council leader

A Northern Devon unitary council would fail because all the money is in Exeter and Plymouth, the leader of Torridge District Council has claimed.

Councillor Ken James believes an option known as ‘1-5-4’ which breaks Devon into three councils with Torridge merging with Exeter, North Devon, East Devon and Mid Devon is the most viable option at this stage.

Under this option Plymouth will stay as a unitary council with extended boundaries, and Torbay will join with Teignbridge, West Devon and the South Hams.

Other district leaders in Devon have given backing to this idea, apart from Exeter which wants to be a single unitary council.

Torridge District Council supported the 1-5-4 option at a full council meeting this week, but there were concerns about the size of the proposed new unitary council and democratic representation.

Some councillors said fewer of them to cover larger areas wouldn’t be good for rural areas.

Cllr Huw Thomas said at present each Torridge councillor represents fewer than 2,000 residents and there are additional county councillors for each area.

In the future 5,000 people could be represented by one councillor.

Under the new structure the districts and county council will be abolished, bringing all services under the new unitaries.

The government wants to make local government simpler so residents are clear on who is responsible for local issues. It wants unitary councils to cover 500,000 residents.

Cllr Teresa Tinsley said a north/south divide would make more sense, with the north concentrating on rural areas.

Cllr Peter Hames said a proposal for half of Devon to be a unitary with Torridge was just ‘not acceptable’.

He said: “It’s not workable, it’s not democratic and it would involve huge costs to this council. We have been told we have to work with other councils. All this is being imposed on us, there is no electoral mandate, it’s centralisation and enforcement from national government.

“Ideally I would go for six smaller councils with Torridge and North Devon amalgamated and it should be investigated with full public consultation.”

Cllr Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin said the rapid timetable is ridiculous. She added: “It’s really frustrating, none of us want this. It would be much better to look at a plan that can evolve over time, one that could save tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money which could be spent on education, roads and housing which need urgent attention here in Devon.”

Council leader Ken James said: “I would love us to be just Northern Devon, but most of the money is in the south. We would have to maintain the biggest network of roads in the county and our business rate collection would be relatively small compared to the south.

“That option will basically fail. If you become very rural how are you going to deliver services?

Twenty four members voted in favour of putting the 1-5-4 option forward to government, four were against and two abstained.

Ministers had asked for responses to be submitted by today (Friday).