See “Devolution for dummies & shotgun weddings” for how this proposal fits within the government guidelines – Owl

A proposal about how Devon could be reshaped in the biggest overhaul of local government in 50 years looks set to suggest the county should have just three councils.

At present, the county has 11 separate councils.

Bradley Gerrard www.midweekherald.co.uk 

A so-called ‘1-5-4’ proposal is understood to have been agreed upon by several Devon councils, with details set to be announced in the coming days.

The model suggests that the ‘1’ is Plymouth, which will remain as a unitary authority but may expand its borders slightly east into the South Hams.

The ‘5’ in the proposal would be a combination of East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon, Exeter and Torridge into one large council, while the ‘4’ would be South Hams, Teignbridge, West Devon and Torbay merging into another.

The proposal comes as the government looks to sweep away the two-tier model of local government where two councils have responsibility for different services within the same area; for example Devon County Council being responsible for roads, but district councils collecting household waste within the same boundary.

Instead, the government wants areas to have fewer but larger unitary councils responsible for all the services in their area. It would prefer councils to cover areas of 500,000 people, but may allow so-called ‘growth areas’ to have smaller numbers.

Councils have been given until Thursday 21 March to submit initial proposals to the government about how their areas could be reorganised to create a smaller number of bigger councils.

A source with knowledge of the talks, who did not want to be named, said seven of Devon’s district councils are collaborating on the proposal, but that Exeter – the county’s eighth district council – still had ambitions of going it alone and becoming a unitary council.

However, leaders and chief executives of the seven districts in favour of it appear to agree that the 1-5-4 model could be viable.

One of the main aspects of friction, though, appears to be how Plymouth would expand its administrative boundaries, the source said.

Some believe it would make sense for Plymouth Council to assume responsibility for Saltash, but that notion is deemed controversial because it is in Cornwall.

The more likely expansion is into the South Hams, but exactly how far is likely to be a key part of any future debate.

It is also unclear whether Devon County Council would throw its weight behind the 1-5-4 proposal, or whether it will suggest an alternative.

In this week’s article for the local press, Paul Arnott discloses that he will be standing in the County elections for Seaton & Colyton.

Worth pointing out that the Tory incumbent for Seaton & Colyton, Marcus Hartnell, was one of those who voted to postpone the May elections. The main arguments put forward were  that it would be a distraction from the County’s preparation for fast track devolution and the cost would be wasteful. Neither withstand scrutiny.

The bid to postpone May’s elections was rejected by the government. Devon County Council’s devolution bid did not meet the guidelines and we now know is not on the fast track. There are other bids in preparation including Exeter’s attempt to fly solo. So it may be some time before we know how the districts will be merged into unitary authorities.

As for the cost of maintaining the electoral role and running elections, they mostly fall on districts not county. – Owl

East Devon Council leader Paul Arnott on the Reform party

Paul Arnott 

This week’s column is a tricky one because it will inevitably be taken as baiting Reform candidates in the lead-up to the County Elections on May 1.

A cynical friend said to me, “Don’t write about Reform until after May 1, because they’re going to take votes from Conservatives and Labour, and that would be ‘good for your lot'”.

My lot being the LibDems.

Full disclosure: I am standing in the County election for Seaton & Colyton.

Maybe I’m a fool, but life seems too short for that kind of self-serving view of the world.

To me, the point of no return was the US Vice President J.D.Vance in Munich (of all places) last week, refusing to meet the German Chancellor but finding time to meet and endorse the leader of the far-right party Alice Weidel and her AfD, close pals of Nigel Farage.

With the German election looming on February 23, and AfD pressing all the usual buttons about migration, it’s as if Franklin D Roosevelt had sent one of his Vice Presidents to meet a National Socialist party functionary in the 1930s to wish them well at the ballot box.

It is that serious, especially with the historically unique phenomenon of Elon Musk getting behind the AfD too.

So what, you may ask, has this got to do with Devon?

I have written before that Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists tried very hard to take off down here, holding meetings in the 1930s across the county, finally to be gloriously rebuffed by anti-BUF marches in Exeter.

But that’s not us, the Reform party members may say.

Sorry, it is, even if you don’t know it.

Nigel Farage has consistently supported the AfD and appeared to bellicose cheers at their conferences.

A few years back he was invited to speak at a Berlin event by Beatrix von Storch, the granddaughter of Hitler’s finance minister.

He has also expressed vocal support for Marine Le Pen in France and Viktor Orban in Hungary.

I can have conversations with lovely people down this way, and suddenly one of them will say “We need Nigel” and go somewhat glassy-eyed.

I’ll be honest, I find this terrifying.

Have we learned nothing?

Boris Johnson was a populist blaggard, Nigel Farage is the same, only unlike Johnson he says the unsayable.

In an interview with London’s Evening Standard last week, he let it all hang out, overtly blaming the lack of GP provision and houses for young people on immigration.

It’s not; it’s caused by the failure of Conservative policy from austerity to almost the present day.

Most thinking politicians won’t stoop to this canard.

Trump and Vance have now opened the door for the likes of Farage to dance merrily through.

Of course, migration policy is a legitimate subject for debate, but not a toxic one.

People are free to vote for Reform if they wish.

But at least I can sleep easy that I’ve warned that parties who lie down with dogs catch fleas.