The so called 1-5-4 option

The key document is this 26 page draft report. The final draft is due to be submitted on 21 March. The draft has been agreed by eight Leaders of Devon’s District Councils

• 190325 Interim Plan FINAL 19032025 Appendix C , item 6. PDF 887 KB

In the forward the Leaders say:

We, the Leaders of seven of the district councils of Devon together with the Leader of
Torbay Council, acknowledge the government’s intent and are committed to responding
constructively to this. We have collaboratively developed interim proposals to meet the
government’s initial deadline. We propose the creation of two new unitary councils
(alongside the retention of Plymouth City unitary): one encompassing South Hams,
Teignbridge, West Devon, and Torbay, and the other uniting East, Mid, North Devon,
Torridge, and Exeter. We believe this model better serves the interests of Devon and
Torbay’s nearly one million residents rather than a single ‘mega-council’.

Despite the progress made in developing these proposals, we have significant concerns
and reservations regarding the proposed scale and timeline for LGR, particularly its
potential for financial unsustainability. The existing system, while imperfect, delivers
effective, locally tailored services and possesses established community connections
and a strong sense of place. We believe the government’s proposals fail to address the
critical funding challenges facing Devon and Torbay, notably in Adult and Children’s
Social Care, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, and in the NHS.

This submission represents an initial framework for how two new local authorities could
be formed. There is considerable further work required to develop these proposals. We
are actively engaged in this further development, including ongoing dialogue with Torbay
Council, and are mindful of the need for flexibility and agility as the LGR process
evolves. We are committed to maintaining local distinctiveness while pursuing service
improvements and we will engage extensively with residents, partners, and
stakeholders throughout this process.

Executive Summary

This Interim Plan responds to the government’s invitation for Local Government
Reorganisation (LGR) towards a single tier. Acknowledging the English Devolution White
Paper’s intent to replace existing councils with larger unitary authorities, this
submission proposes a balanced two-unitary solution for Devon and Torbay, alongside
Plymouth City as a retained unitary authority, aiming to meet LGR objectives while
preserving local identity and ensuring sustainable service delivery.

The proposed two-unitary model aligns with the six criteria for unitary government,
using existing district areas as building blocks and aiming for populations near 500,000
for each authority. The proposed model anticipates the creation of a;

• Exeter and Northern Devon Authority: East, Mid, North Devon, Torridge, and
  Exeter
• Southern Devon Authority: South Hams, Teignbridge, West Devon, and Torbay.

This offers a comprehensive solution for the whole area, establishing a credible
alternative to a single ‘mega’Council whilst guarding against the creation of an
urban/rural divide.

The Interim Plan recognises that significant further work is required to develop these
proposals. A programme is set out for how this will happen through to November 2025.
This includes extensive stakeholder engagement.

[There is a feeling that the government could well change the ground rules to lower the population threshold for a unitary authority to 350K in whch case something very different may emerge. Also worth pointing out that Districts only account for 7% of your council Tax so the potential saving can’t be huge. – Owl]

The human cost of yet another NHS reorganisation Letters

NHS England’s abolition makes us reflect on disastrous 2012 reforms, writes Dr Michael Cohen, while Jeremy Wainman decries the dismantling of a skilled workforce, Nigel Turner explains the reorganisation cycle, and Martin Shaw invites the health secretary to visit his local hospital

Tue 18 Mar 2025

As the Labour party plans yet another costly NHS reorganisation, we should reflect on the former health secretary Andrew Lansley’s disastrous and expensive reforms in 2012 (Keir Starmer scraps NHS England to put health service ‘into democratic control’, 13 March). I worked as an NHS GP and hospital specialist for 25 years. Those of us working in the service could see where many of the major problems lay, but rather than listening to those working at the coalface, David Cameron seemed to be seduced by Lansley’s ideas.

The disastrous effects of the reorganisation were seen most clearly when the Covid pandemic struck, with respect to provision of personal protective equipment and the test-and-trace debacle. Effective public health pathways had been changed and there was no joined-up thinking whatsoever.

Now we have elderly patients fit for discharge lying in hospital beds as plans for social care reform are again kicked down the road. Patients awaiting hospital admission lie in corridors, where care is clearly substandard despite the heroic efforts of doctors and nurses. It is scandalous.

What happens if we have a new administration in four years, another reorganisation? We must stop the NHS becoming a political football and have some cohesive and effective forward planning before it really is too late.
Dr Michael Cohen
Bristol

 The cuts to integrated care boards are yet another example of short-term cost-saving measures that will weaken our economy, public services and workforce (30,000 jobs could go in Labour’s radical overhaul of NHS, 14 March). Good jobs are not just expenses; they are investments in a stable, productive society.

Beyond the numbers, there is a deep human cost. Many of those losing their jobs are the very people who worked tirelessly to keep the NHS from collapsing after years of underfunding. To reward them with redundancy rather than support is an insult. What’s even more troubling is that a Labour government, supposedly the party of workers and vulnerable people, is making these cuts instead of pursuing fairer ways to raise revenue. Rather than increasing taxes on those who can afford it, they are targeting NHS staff while ignoring the system’s deeper issues.

The NHS is inefficient, but not because of its workforce. The real causes are years of deliberate underinvestment and the unchecked power of NHS trusts, which act as bureaucratic fiefdoms obstructing modernisation.

Frontline staff today are less efficient than their predecessors, not due to lack of skill but because they are trapped in an outdated, fragmented system.

If Labour is serious about fixing the NHS, it must invest properly, break down power imbalances, and implement long-term change. Instead, it is choosing the same failed austerity playbook. The UK cannot afford to dismantle its skilled workforce under the guise of fiscal responsibility.
Jeremy Wainman
Pontefract, West Yorkshire

 When I joined the NHS as a manager nearly 35 years ago, my boss explained to me that there was a fundamental rhythm to the reorganisation of the NHS. Incoming governments, he said, centralised things, believing that they could “fix the NHS”, and then, when they discovered that they couldn’t, they decentralised again to avoid the blame. Here we go again…
Nigel Turner
London

 Matthew Weaver (How did Andrew Lansley reorganise health and create NHS England?, 14 March) misses one change that had a big impact on communities: the transfer of the ownership of many health service buildings to a company, NHS Property Services (NHSPS), charged with obtaining national market value from them. In Devon, community hospitals paid for by local donations became the property of NHSPS without anyone being informed, and wards were closed with the intention of selling sites for housebuilding.

In Seaton, more than a third of the hospital – a wing funded entirely by local people – has been empty for nearly eight years, partly because NHSPS won’t vary its rental charges to allow for new uses, despite a huge local outcry and lengthy discussions. Wes Streeting should look into NHSPS, and would be welcome in Devon to see the problems for himself.
Martin Shaw
Seaton, Devon

At the beginning of February Devon claimed it was on “the fast track” to create a single unitary authority as part of Angela Rayner’s local government reorganisation plans. But it lost  its bid to cancel the May elections and has now come up with FIVE alternative options, demonstrating quite clearly that it was never in a position to make such a claim.

Here are the county proposals, the eight district councils, have all coalesced around one idea known as the 1-5-4 proposal which will be published separately.

The government has opened a can of worms. Owl doesn’t expect them to make a quick decision.

Data ‘vital’ in council shake-up as Devon poses reorg options

Bradley Gerrard www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

Data has to be the driving force behind Devon’s upcoming local authority shake-up, according to the county council’s outgoing leader who has warned against hopes of “massive savings”.

A report outlining five potential ways that Devon’s 11 existing main councils could be merged into either two or three new, larger ones has been published, with a special meeting of Devon County Council planned this Thursday (March 20) to debate the proposals.

A sixth option of one Devon-wide council is acknowledged, but “only for benchmarking purposes” rather than being viewed as a viable option.

Cllr James McInnes (Conservative, Hatherleigh and Chagford), the outgoing council leader, said his plan is for all five options to be submitted to the government this week, with a pledge that data would be gathered over the coming months to help identify which make the most sense.

Jim McMahon, minister of state for local government, had asked councils to submit interim reorganisation plans by Friday, but Cllr McInnes said Westminster’s emphasis had changed slightly in recent weeks.

“The government has shifted its position, which I’m aware of as I wrote to Mr McMahon asking various questions, one being whether 21 March was a decision point,” Cllr McInnes told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“But he quite clearly said that it was not a decision point and that he merely wanted to know what we had been up to so far.”

Different strategies

The move to submit five proposals differs from the strategy of Devon’s eight district councils, which have all coalesced around one idea known as the 1-5-4 proposal.

That would see Plymouth remain a unitary council with potentially expanded boundaries compared to now, while Devon’s other councils would be merged into one of two new unitary councils.

That idea is included as one of Devon’s five suggestions.

Cllr McInnes said third parties are collating data for the county council to work out which proposal would be the most effective, and this would be shared with district councils.

“I support the principal and advantages of a unitary in terms of residents knowing who to go to and get support, or complain to, and it would be better for one organisation to oversee housing and social care, for instance, compared to it being split between two different councils now,” he said.

“But we need to use data to make sure we make the right decisions for the long-term sustainability of services.”

Fears have been raised that the government views reorganisation as a way to save money, but Cllr McInnes said that is optimistic.

“If you think how much money has been taken from local government since 2009/10, through austerity, the pandemic and now the cost-of-living crisis and the spike in inflation we’ve had, there simply isn’t the meat on the bone to make massive savings,” he said.

“I think we can make efficiencies in terms of having one front door and integrating services [that are currently split across two councils] but we cannot make savings and if someone thinks they can take millions of pounds out of local government, it’s already been done.”

The government announced in December that it wants to abolish the two-tier system of local government whereby district and county councils are responsible for different services in the same geographic area.

Devon’s five suggestions for local government reorganisation are:

• Two unitary authorities – one covering Plymouth and another covering the rest of Devon.

• A two unitary north Devon/South Devon split, with one council for Plymouth, Teignbridge, South Hams and Torbay, and another for Exeter, East Devon, North Devon, Torridge, West Devon and Mid Devon.
• A two unitary south west and north east split, with one council for Plymouth, South Hams and West Devon and another for Exeter, East Devon, Torbay, Teignbridge, North Devon, Torridge and Mid Devon.
• A three unitary option of Plymouth, greater Exeter (formed of Exeter, East Devon and Mid Devon) and the rest of Devon.
• A three unitary option, with Plymouth remaining on existing boundaries, a new unitary council formed of Exeter, East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon and Torridge and another made up of Torbay, South Hams, Teignbridge and West Devon.