County Councillors report
January 2025
Happy New Year
Local Government Reorganisation
The English Devolution White Paper was published just before Christmas.
Extract from the minister’s letter probably gives some explanation as to where we are heading as residents in a two tier area;
Local government reorganisation My intention is to formally invite unitary proposals in January 2025 from all councils in two-tier areas, and small neighbouring unitary councils. In this invitation, I will set out further detail on the criteria I will consider when taking decisions on the proposals that are submitted to Government. I intend to ask for interim plans by March 2025. As set out in the White Paper, new unitary councils must be the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks. For most areas, this will mean creating councils with a population of 500,000 or more. However, there may be exceptions to ensure new structures make sense for an area, including on devolution. Final decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis. We will ask you to work with other councils in your area to develop unitary proposals that are in the best interests of the whole area, rather than developing competing proposals.
In the White Paper the Government has explicitly issued a direction to Councils in two tier areas to reorganise into unitary authorities and to look towards setting up strategic Combined Authorities with an Elected Mayor. In our case in Devon, that would mean a Combined Authority and Elected Mayor for Devon and Cornwall. This would replace the recently set up Combined Devon and Torbay Authority which was agreed with the previous Government.
Statement from Andrew Saywell, Cabinet Member for Organisational Development, Workforce and Digital Transformation:
Following publication of the Governments Devolution White paper it is clear that considerable change is going to happen in Local Government in Devon. The County Council is going to be abolished, as will all the Devon District Councils.
We have two options;
1. Do nothing and the government will impose changes
2. Engage with government to get the best result for the residents of Devon.
I believe that engagement with the government is the better option.
While I may not agree with all the government’s proposals, I need to do everything I can to ensure that the changes will make local government sustainable for the long term and is able to withstand shocks like the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the world financial crisis. At the heart of all this must be astronger voice to inform the government of the issues my residents in Torrington Rural and the residents in the wider area of Devon face.
The shape and size of the new unitary council(s) is the discussion that will come next, and will no doubt be very contentious.
However, those discussions will come as the Government wants draft proposals submitted by March, discussions in the summer and a final proposal agreed in September.
County Council elections are due in May 2025. However, if we are to stick to this timetable the practicality of holding an election is somewhat limited. Councillors elected in May will be planning their redundancy in September. And under this timetable we would likely be having elections to the new ‘shadow’ unitary authority in May 2026, possibly followed by a Mayoral Election in May 2027.
The overwhelming feedback I’ve had from members of the public, as well as Town and Parish Councils, is that having the elections this May given the County Council’s imminent abolition is a waste of time and money. We should not allow ourselves to get distracted by noise from a minority of people on social media who want an election – these people are not our supporters.
There are significant decisions over the future of Highways, Libraries and Youth Services, to name just 3 areas, that need to be taken in the coming years. These cannot be done if we drag out the reorganisation process over many years. It is in everyone’s interests that this is done in as timely and efficient way as possible
However, this will ultimately be the Government’s decision. They may choose to continue with the elections. We hope to get a decision from Government by the end of this week or next week.
Finally, I thank my District and Town and Parish colleagues from Torridge and Tavistock who have all been supportive of the direction we have been taking. This will not be easy for any of us, but it is imperative that we avoid ‘blue on blue’ attacks, especially if we do have an election this year.
But election or no election, it is clear that Devon County Council and Torridge District Council are going to cease to exist in a few short years and will be replaced by a new unitary council. I will do all that I can to defend the interests of Torrington Rural and Torridge and Tavistock as we go through this period of change.
Andrew Saywell
Cabinet Member for Organisational Development, Workforce and Digital Transformation
Devon County Councillor for Torrington Rural
UPDATE: following Andrew‘s report above, the government announced that Devon and Cornwall would not be in tier one. County Council elections will go ahead as originally intended, in May of this year. If you can help with leafleting, put up a poster or be supportive in another way especially if you have some tech skills and can work from home helping us , please contact [email protected]
You can also stay up to date with Andrew via Facebook.