Owl is confused.

A few years ago, EDDC spent more than £250,000 to persuade us – and the Government – that they should NOT be forced to amalgamate into, basically, a “Greater Exeter” OR a unitary authority.

NOW:

We have East Devon District Council

We have Devon County Council

We have Greater Exeter – EDDC, Mid-Devon, Teignbridge and Exeter Councils – the very thing EDDC fought only a few years ago

We have STRATA – an IT partnership between EDDC, Teignbridge and Exeter but NOT Mid-Devon

We have the Local Enterprise Partnership – all of Devon and all of Somerset

AND

Research apparently reveals that unitary councils could save several billion pounds:

“Creating 27 unitary councils across the whole of England could save as much as £2.9bn, according to an independent analysis of local government reorganisation options undertaken for the County Councils Network.

The report by consultants EY examined six different single and two-tier governance scenarios for county and district authorities, using existing county boundaries. Based on the analysis of national data, EY found that creation of unitaries along county boundaries could save between £2.37bn and £2.86bn over five years, and average up to £106m per county. The single unitary option has the shortest payback period, generating savings within two years and two months, according to the review. …”

Owl’s head hurts…