Green councillors from across Devon have written an open letter to our council leaders and MPs calling for them to pull together or see the county divided up by Whitehall:
OPEN LETTER
Government has made it very clear that the local government reorganisation in Devon is inevitable, and we intend to engage with this in a positive way to ensure the needs of our communities and environment come first.
We are deeply concerned that conflicting plans are being developed behind numerous closed doors, each rushing to meet the Government’s March deadline for initial proposals. The breakdown of previous cooperation between the current Local Authorities in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay and the proposals for ‘mega councils’ is a recipe for disaster and risks spending too much of our Councils’ precious funds on consultants, while our communities are facing rising council tax bills and being kept in the dark about the future of Council services.
The Government has set a minimum figure of 500,000 people for each new local authority. We are concerned this number is not justified by evidence nor does it recognise the challenges of delivering good and financially viable services over large geographical areas such as Devon. With over a decade of austerity and significant debts our Councils are already on the back foot – something which, with the best will in the world, reorganisation won’t be able to fix.
We believe we should keep services local and reorganisation simple, rather than spending huge amounts of money on complicated reorganisation arrangements. We ask you to ensure that the ‘local’ remains in Local Authorities. We want to ensure our communities, voluntary and community organisations and businesses can be connected to local democracy and decisions taken by local Councillors who understand their communities and local environment. Decisions should be taken at the lowest level of decision-making possible – a mega Council for Devon or vast Unitary Authorities will be detached from reality and the residents they represent.
This means a real recognition of the vital role of Parish and Town Councils, involving them now in these negotiations. All proposals should include clear commitments for their development (including establishing them where there are none, e.g. Exeter) and ongoing support and relationship with the new authorities. Parish, Town and Community councils can work closely alongside our residents, and voluntary and business sectors to ensure effective delivery of services and support for local initiatives.
We ask Leaders that you put differences aside to go back again to learn from current cooperation and use this as a model for future operations across authorities. For example South Hams, West Devon have already been successfully delivering shared services; Strata, joint company is owned by and delivers IT services for Exeter, East Devon & Teignbridge; and Torridge and North Devon have a joint Local Plan and joint Building Control Service. Smaller unitary authorities across Devon, Plymouth and Torbay will still have the opportunity to work in this way. Models can be developed to set standards for services across authorities and enable local councils to deliver effectively.
We call on you to develop proposals which truthfully set out to Government the funding required to deliver for our communities and environment – recognising the ‘rural premium’, the urgent need for more investment in adult social care and childrens’ services and the current debts our Councils hold. We recognise that the digital delivery of services will create considerable savings and these can work well at scale; however there are still important services from adult social care to waste & recycling collections that need proper investment in people on the ground. Those funds cannot come from our communities, some of which are on low incomes, others experiencing rural or urban deprivation and more and more living precariously as a result of cost of living pressures.
Last but not least – we ask that you be open with our communities about what’s happening with these changes, the impact they might have and engage them in a meaningful way in the plans for our future. We need to build confidence, so that on the first day of operation of the unitaries, our communities relate to the place and value the people who look to serve in these new authorities on our behalf.
Reorganisation needs to promote an economic model across Devon which is built on resilience – strengthening local economies by investing in our market and coastal towns. Continuing to rely on a perception of Exeter and Plymouth as the only ‘engines of growth’ will continue to suck the economic life out of our rural and coastal areas and not tackle areas of urban deprivation.
The leaked ‘1-5-4 model’ (Plymouth plus some of the South Hams; Torbay plus West Devon, Teignbridge, the rest of South Hams; Exeter and East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon and Torridge) has only 3 unitary authorities – too few to create meaningful authorities connected to our local people. A model of fewer than six unitary authorities across Devon, Torbay and Plymouth would fail to provide the much needed democratic accountability to local areas.
Please pull together so that we are not divided up by Whitehall.
Signed
Cllr Diana Moore, Exeter City Council
Cllr Jane Elliott, West Devon District Council
Cllr Anna Presswell, South Hams District Council,
Cllr Georgina Allen, South Hams District Council,
Cllr Sara Wilson, North Devon District Council
Cllr Ricky Knight North Devon District Council
Cllr Mark Haworth-Booth, North Devon Council
Cllr Gill Westcott, Mid Devon District Council
Cllr Carol Bennett, Exeter City Council
Cllr Tess Read, Exeter City Council
Cllr James Banyard, Exeter City Council
Cllr Catherine Rees, Exeter City Council
Cllr Lynn Wetenhall, Exeter City Council
Cllr Paula Fernley, East Devon District Council
Cllr Huw Thomas, Torridge District Council
Cllr Peter Hames, Torridge District Council
Cllr Henry Gent, Devon County Council
Cllr Lauren McLay, Plymouth City Council
Cllr Ian Poyser, Plymouth City Council
Cllr Jacqi Hodgson, Devon County Council
Cllr Andy Ketchin Exeter City Council