The reality in 2016 couldn’t be more different. In fact what we are in the process of ratifying is the exact opposite of this. We are passing many local powers into the hands of a business group named ‘The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership’.

This group hold £4 billion paid to them through DEFRA and through the European Social Fund, there is money from elsewhere also, but because their dealings are very difficult to trace, we don’t know where all the funding comes from. They are an un-elected group, they are almost entirely unaccountable and they hold their meetings in secret. Their minutes are not published.

On the board sit the happy volunteers, mostly property magnates, construction CEOs, there’s a man from Westland helicoptors, another is the managing director of SupaCat. The list continues. I would not suggest that there was a conflict of interest in giving business people, whose main jobs are in construction, the job of providing massive construction projects in the south west, but I can’t see what else to call it.

One of their main projects is Hinkley C nuclear power station. They are pouring millions into it. They are offering the benefits of it to businesses in Plymouth. Why? What is their mandate for funding this very controversial development. I was under the impression that the government wasn’t putting tax payers money into it. But this money seems to come from DEFRA.

These are the people writing and implementing our devolution bid. I do not want my local area to be controlled by these people, but I do not have a say in the matter. There is to be no consultation that I can see, in fact most people don’t even know we are in the process of devolution here in the south west. I have not yet met anyone who knows about devolution, much less the LEP.

On the 11th February, there was a full council meeting [South Hams] to ratify the devolution bid as written by the LEP. The council is not happy at all, but has no choice. They are being completely squeezed of funds and will have to go cap in hand to the LEP in order to keep functioning. …

… There is media silence on the subject. But not for much longer I suspect, its not being kept a secret exactly, the LEP have glossy brochures and a website explaining their involvement in Hinkley and other massive projects, but try giving them a call or asking to speak to a representative and you will be met with silence.”