“I know whenever I come back here next,” Nigel Farage told a jubilant crowd of hundreds in a leisure centre in Redruth, “Reform UK will become a dominant force, not just in Cornwall politics, but in British politics.”

Jamie Grierson www.theguardian.com 

That was in February and when the local elections arrived three months later it appeared Farage’s prophecy was in part coming true – Reform took 28 seats on Cornwall council, the highest number of any party.

But during his speech at Carn Brea leisure centre, Farage also warned his rapturous supporters “we have to convert theory into reality” – and reality in Cornwall is now biting.

Six months on from the local elections – after which Reform was unable to form an administration, leaving the Liberal Democrats and independents to set up a ruling coalition – the party’s presence in the county is in disarray following weeks of resignations, suspensions and infighting that mean Reform UK no longer holds the highest number of seats in the authority.

Critics say that along with the chaos in the Reform-led council of Kent, the farcical scenes in Cornwall, where Reform act as the official opposition are further evidence that the party is not capable of delivering beyond a protest vote.

Two key figures involved in the fiasco, the former leader and deputy leader of the Reform group in Cornwall, said interference from national figures in the party was in part behind their decision to stand down and could also be blamed for some of the infighting that has brought Reform into disrepute.

Rowland O’Connor, a seasoned figure in the party who won 16.5% of the vote in North Cornwall in last year’s general election, was the first to stand down in early October – not only stepping down as deputy but from Reform itself.

“I made a commitment to serve the people of my division as a local councillor and to represent their best interests on anything to do with council services: buses, transport, roads, hedges, potholes, bins, all the things that one would expect a council to be involved in,” said O’Connor, who represents St Columb Major, St Mawgan and St Wenn division.

“But the position I found myself in as deputy leader and also as a Reform UK councillor, was that the national agenda right was being emphasised.”

O’Connor said the two key propositions from Reform UK on a national level were challenging immigration and net zero. “The direct impact of immigration in Cornwall is negligible,” he said. On net zero, Reform councillors sitting on planning committees – like all councillors – are required to be apolitical in their decision-making, he added.

“There was an ongoing divergence between what time I was able to dedicate to serving the residents in my division versus trying to unravel the push-pull between national and local.”

Two days later, Reform’s leader in Cornwall, Rob Parsonage, also resigned the role and from the party. Parsonage, who represents Torpoint, said as leader he would receive “instructions” over WhatsApp from “head office” ordering them to “put motions in to scrap all net zero target-related matters”.

“The trouble with that is you have to go in there with an open mind and with a view to assessing a planning application based on its merits, the regulations and the law,” Parsonage added. “So, effectively, you’re being asked to do something that you’re not allowed to do.”

O’Connor and Parsonage have formed the Cornish Independent Non-aligned Group with two other former Reform councillors, Anna Thomason-Kenyon and Karen Knight.

Parsonage’s wife, Christine Parsonage, who was elected as a Reform councillor for St Columb Minor and Colan, stood down at the end of last month on health grounds. Her short time as councillor, however, was mired in controversy after it emerged she lived more than 40 miles away from her division in Torpoint.

She was heavily criticised by members of Newquay town council in August for not attending their meetings as the Cornwall council representative for the area she represented. She later admitted standing as a “paper candidate” – a contender who does not realistically expect to be elected.

The five departures mean Reform now has 23 seats on Cornwall council, having previously held 28, compared with the Liberal Democrats’ 26.

Before the departure of Rob Parsonage and O’Connor, the former had come under criticism from within his own party. Curtis Mellows, the then chair of the Reform Cornwall south-east branch, did not hold back with his criticism of Parsonage online, calling him an “odious little man”.

“He’s got no leadership qualities whatsoever,” Mellows said. “He tries to make out he’s got experience in politics. Well, he proved he hasn’t. I told the head office this guy shouldn’t be there, and he’s going to be a disaster – and you’ve seen what’s unfolded in the south-west.”

In another twist, Mellows himself is now suspended from the party after making allegedly offensive comments about Prince Harry in a social media post.

Mellows said he had made formal bullying complaints about members of the party in the county, which were not dealt with by the regional or national figures. “I wouldn’t let the bullying drop and I kept on and on and on about it,” he said. “They’ve obviously decided to get rid of me, which is fine.”

Despite the election of a new leader and deputy leader for the Reform group, the infighting continues.

Only this week, the chair of the Camborne, Redruth and Hayle branch was removed, much to the dismay of branch members.

The waters are muddied further by the fact the chair who was removed from the branch against its members’ wishes is – and remains – the newly appointed deputy of the party in Cornwall, Roger Tarrant.

Members of the branch have been anonymously briefing the local press, complaining of the “removal of our popular and successful previous chairman, and the parachuting in of an unknown”.

So as Reform unravels, how are the parties in power responding? Leigh Frost, the Liberal Democrat leader of Cornwall council, said: “It’s quite astounding. In reality, everyone knew that this would eventually come. It’s no surprise.

“We had a lot of Reform paper candidates in the local elections in May. A lot of those people got elected on the wave, and are now realising what it’s like to be a councillor, what it means to be a councillor.

“Ultimately, some of them are realising it’s very difficult and don’t want to do it, and that’s entirely up to them.

“Others are realising that there’s more to it, and they want to do a good job for their communities, which is great, and sort of realise that Reform isn’t the answer to that.”

A Reform UK spokesperson said: “These claims are untrue. Reform UK councillors have complete autonomy to take a stand on local issues and are encouraged to come up with solutions to improve their communities.

“However, voters are right to expect their elected Reform UK representatives to remember the platform they were elected on, which includes opposing the net zero agenda and ensuring taxpayer funds are spent on local people, not illegal migrants.”

The newly appointed Reform leader in Cornwall, Paul Ashton, also rejected comments that local councillors had to focus on national Reform policies, such as immigration and net zero, rather than prioritising important issues affecting Cornish voters, such as affordable housing and public services.He said there was no directive from Farage or any other senior Reform figure that members had to toe the national line. “There is nobody from HQ breathing down our necks saying you’ve got to do this or you’ve got to do that.”

Wetlands created by beavers have 45% more butterflies than those created by people, a Butterfly Conservation ecologist has revealed.

butterfly-conservation.org 

The study also showed that beaver wetlands have 29% more hoverfly species and 119% more hoverfly individuals.

Both groups of insects pollinate a range of plants, highlighting a potentially unforeseen benefit of beaver reintroduction.

The study was carried out by Butterfly Conservation ecologist Patrick Cook for his PhD at Stirling University.

Mr Cook hopes his results will help beaver wetlands to be seen as a new potential strategy to reverse decades of wildlife decline, but also warned that landowners need to be incentivised.

Mr Cook said: “Pollinators such as bees and butterflies are undergoing widespread and dramatic declines in the size of their populations. This has negative effects on the delivery of pollination, but it is also leading to the loss of some of our most charismatic species from the countryside. We urgently need methods to reverse these declines.

“Currently in the UK, most agri-environment subsidy schemes support human pond creation, with little financial incentive for landowners to accommodate beaver wetlands – despite the potential boost in pollination services. This position needs to change if we are to benefit from the buzz, flutter and hum of pollinators that beaver wetlands promote.”

Mr Cook and fellow researchers from Stirling University carried out six pollinator surveys from May to August 2023 on beaver wetlands at Bamff Wildland, a rewilding estate in Perthshire, and on manmade ponds at two neighbouring private farms.

The team counted the number of bees, butterflies, hoverflies, moths and flowering plants, and the number of species. 

They also recorded which insect species were visiting which flowers, and found that the beaver wetlands had a higher overall number of insect-plant interactions (336 interactions involving 38 species) than human-created ponds (231 interactions with 34 species).

Mr Cook added:  “Our work adds further important evidence of the beneficial effects of beaver wetlands for wildlife, in this instance pollinators.

“If we want to realise these benefits, we need to go beyond removing dams and incorporate these wetlands fully into agri-environment schemes to support landowners with beavers on their land.”

Beavers were once widespread across the UK and their dams helped shape the landscape, but they were hunted to extinction in the 16th century.

Numerous organisations have campaigned for reintroduction of beavers to the UK, and in recent years legislators in Scotland and England have granted licences.

The first official release of beavers into the wild in Scotland was carried out by the Scottish Wildlife Trust at Knapdale Forest in 2009. The first official release of beavers into the wild in England was carried out by The National Trust at Purbeck Heath in Dorset in March 2025. Other groups have released beavers onto private land.

[Note from Owl: beavers living wild in the river Otter were first reported c. 2008. Breeding families were confirmed in 2014. Only a public outcry, led by independent councillor, Claire Wright, stopped them being summarily culled (the Defra default policy) . A formal River Otter Beaver Trial was then conducted from 2015 to 2020 to study their impact (driven by the Devon Wildlife Trust). This resulted in the government giving them permanent “permission” to stay in 2020, the first wild beavers to return to England for around 500 years.]

However, farmers and landowners have raised concerns about potential negative impacts.

Professor Nigel Willby, Professor of Freshwater Science at the University of Stirling, said: “On occasion there may be valid reasons to remove a beaver dam. But we should remember that for every beaver dam removed a beaver wetland dies, along with a multitude of attached benefits, including for pollinators.”

Sophie Ramsay, manager for Bamff Wildland, added: “This brilliant new research shows once again that beavers are vital to the agricultural landscape as well as to biodiversity in general.”

The study, Beaver wetlands create a buzz and a flutter for pollinators, was published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, and was funded by the NERC Iapetus programme – a Doctoral Training Partnership funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) focused on environmental sciences.

Read the study here

With a cumulative deficit of around £167.5 million, the government, going full ostrich, seems to think this can all be swept away by savings from a little bit of reorganisation.

Forever hopeful! – Owl

Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

Improvements made but pressure remain

A Devon council is predicting it will overspend by nearly £8 million this year as government grant cuts and spending pressures in key services combine.

Two key departments at Devon County Council – adult social care and children’s services – look likely to make up the bulk of the predicted £7.8 million overspend for this year.

Devon County Council’s cabinet heard that children’s services had overspent by just over £6 million so far, while adult social care had a more than 2.6 million overspend at the half-way point in the financial year.

Savings in other areas help bring the total down slightly, although the council highlighted the loss of a £10 million government grant was also taking its toll.

Westminster removed the rural services delivery grant from Devon this year, funding which was given to the county in recognition of the higher costs of providing services in the rural county.

Councillor James Buczkowski (Liberal Democrat, Cullompton & Bradninch) said it was an “important time to take stock”.

“The headline figure must be treated seriously but it is a £2.3 million net improvement from recent months, which reflects the discipline of our teams with their tighter controls and management of demand,” he said.

He acknowledged adult social care was a sector that faced “huge national pressures” and that this meant Devon was not alone in challenges here.

Concerningly though, Cllr Buczkowski said the overspend linked to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) was expected to be £57.4 million, which would take its cumulative deficit to around £167.5 million.

That’s in spite of Devon receiving a £95 million bailout through the government’s Safety Valve scheme last year, albeit the cash is paid out in tranches over eight years.

Special government rules mean that this overspend is essentially ringfenced, meaning it does not have an impact on the council’s day-to-day finances.

The government has pledged to look at how to deal with SEND overspends, which are estimated to be around £6 billion pounds across the country’s councils that have responsibility for education.

“At the mid-way point, it is a balanced picture, and while there is real pressure, there is real progress,” Cllr Buczkowski said.

“Savings are being delivered and we are demonstrating financial discipline.”

Leader Councillor Julian Brazil (Liberal Democrat, Kingsbridge) thanked the council’s staff for trying to keep spending under control.

“I’ve sat in meetings [when in opposition] when things were a lot worse,” he said.

“Let’s hope for a balanced budget at year-end.” 

Under plans to be set out by Steve Reed, the housing secretary, councils will be prevented from refusing planning permission for housing projects of more than 150 homes and will have to refer the application to the government for a decision.

The government said that the new process would also be quicker as ministers would not automatically have to hold a formal inquiry into the development. Instead, they said, cases could be handled through written submissions, which would be “simpler and faster”.

Unless Steve Reed’s Ministry is seriously overstaffed, Owl wouldn’t bet on that.

“This has always been about how, not if, new homes are built, and the housing secretary is clear we are leaving no stone unturned to build 1.5 million homes. 

The message is clear: go big, go bold, go build.” (Government source).

[To save time, why not send your planning applications directly to: The Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF.?]

Councils to lose power to block large housing developments

Oliver Wright www.thetimes.com

Ministers are to strip local councils of their power to block or delay large-scale housing projects in the latest attempt to tackle England’s sluggish rate of homebuilding.

Under plans to be set out by Steve Reed, the housing secretary, councils will be prevented from refusing planning permission for housing projects of more than 150 homes and will have to refer the application to the government for a decision.

At present the law requires that councils only refer large-scale developments that they have approved in case they breach national planning guidelines.

Senior government sources claimed the change would put ministers “in the driving seat” and allow them to force through developments quickly even if they faced local opposition. However, it has been attacked by council leaders who said it would erode local democracy.

The latest government figures show that between April and June this year building work started on just 29,490 new homes, just a 2 per cent increase on the previous quarter. In the last full year 196,500 new homes were completed, down from 221,000 homes the previous year.

The figures are a long way off Labour’s election target of building 1.5 million homes by the time of the next election, which would require 300,000 a year over the five years of the parliamentary term. Some experts say that there is now little chance of the target being hit.

However, ministers remain committed and insist they will change the law as necessary to speed up planning delays.

In particular they are concerned that, while changes to England’s planning laws are to be made in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, many local authorities are still dragging their feet and trying to delay or block unpopular developments in their areas.

Government sources claim that almost 900 major housing schemes have been “stopped in their tracks” in the past year alone.

Reed plans to issue a legally binding instruction to councils to inform him of any development of over 150 units that an authority intends to block. This will allow him to “call in” the project and appoint a planning inspector who will examine the scheme and make a recommendation on whether it should go ahead.

Critically, the final decision rests with the secretary of state, allowing him to veto local opposition.

The government said that the new process would also be quicker as ministers would not automatically have to hold a formal inquiry into the development. Instead, they said, cases could be handled through written submissions, which would be “simpler and faster”.

“We know the powers at our disposal have their limits so it’s only right that we look again and put ministers back in the driving seat if councils are standing in the way of good developments,” said a government source. “This has always been about how, not if, new homes are built, and the housing secretary is clear we are leaving no stone unturned to build 1.5 million homes. The message is clear: go big, go bold, go build.”

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) welcomed the change. “It will help ensure more larger sites come forward and prevent unnecessary delays to sites appropriate for development,” it said. “If the government can reduce regulatory costs so more sites are viable, and ensure people are able to buy, the move could help drive housing supply.”

The number of new homes completed last year was down by 24,500 compared with the previous year

The Local Government Association criticised the changes, however, saying they would undermine democratic accountability.

“Councils are central to addressing the housebuilding crisis across the country and are ready to play their part, already approving nine out of ten planning applications which come before them,” it said.

“Councils know their communities best and should remain at the heart of the planning process. The democratic role of councillors in decision-making is the backbone of the English planning system, and this should not be diminished.”

Last month the HBF warned the budget watchdog that its forecasts for economic growth from house building were too optimistic.

It has called on ministers to use the budget to stimulate demand for new housebuilding by bringing back the Help to Buy scheme, which allowed first-time buyers to get onto the housing ladder with government subsidised loans. It has also called for ministers to reduce the burden of regulation on house builders, which it claims is putting up the cost of new houses.

MPs in Cornwall have called for Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez to resign “effective immediately” after the government announced they were axing the role in England and Wales.

Molly Seaman www.cornwalllive.com

The elected officials were first introduced in 2012 and their responsibilities include setting budgets for their police forces and appointing the most senior officer – the chief constable – for their area.

But ministers plan to abolish the role in 2028 when the next elections are set to be held to save at least £100 million and help fund neighbourhood policing.

Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall Ben Maguire called the PCCs a “failed Tory experiment” and joined MP for St Ives Andrew George in calling for Ms Hernandez to resign immediately.

Mr Maguire said the PCC for Devon and Cornwall should do “the decent thing” and resign before the next elections were due to take place.

Mr George added that the Police and Crime Commissioner job has been a “pointless role” and a “catalogue of embarrassment”.

They have reportedly said Ms Hernandez should resign sooner rather than wait until the role is officially abolished in 2028 as to not “waste millions more in taxpayer funds”.

Ben Maguire MP said: “It is great news that the Government has finally listened and decided to scrap the pointless Police and Crime Commissioners – a failed Tory experiment that has cost council tax payers hundreds of millions of pounds.

“Almost immediately after my election and many times since I have stood up in the House of Commons and called for this pointless role to be scrapped. This huge waste of taxpayer money would be so much better spent on bolstering frontline policing so we can tackle rural crime and antisocial behaviour.

“This is a huge victory for common sense and for the Liberal Democrat campaign. Now, Devon & Cornwall’s PCC Alison Hernandez should do the decent thing and resign immediately, rather than cling on as a lame duck, waste millions more of taxpayer money, and potentially undermine the leadership of the police here in Cornwall.”

Andrew George MP added: “PCC’s have always been a pointless waste of space and money.

“It is far better to scrap them and spend the money on more resources for our over-stretched frontline police.”

Policing minister Sarah Jones announced the move in the Commons today (Thursday, November 13), telling MPs that the model has shown little sign of improving confidence in policing. She said less than a quarter of voters turned out to vote for them in the 2024 elections, and two in five people are “unaware PCCs even exist”.

The minister added: “The reality is that the PCC model has weakened local police accountability and has had perverse impacts on the recruitment of chief constables. They have failed to inspire confidence in local people, in stark contrast to the mayoral model, which has clearly been ultimately more successful.”

Ms Jones told the Commons that measures including ending elections for PCCs and abolishing police and crime panels will save £100 million this Parliament. The changes are expected to make savings of £20 million a year, which could fund an extra 320 extra police constables, she said.

Ms Hernandez was first elected in 2016 to the job and has been re-elected twice.

She thinks a mayor would likely appoint an unelected deputy to do the work of the crime commissioner, but ends with: “Trying to bottom out Prisoners Building Homes, is where I’d be going next, because I think that’s the most innovative thing anybody has ever invented.” – Owl

Crime commissioner warns replacement may not be accountable to public

Alison Hernandez said she has been ‘disturbed’ at the way the Government has justified the abolition of crime commissioners

Carl Eve Crime Reporter www.devonlive.com

The announcement today by the Government that it would abolish the role of Police and Crime Commissioners has understandably been somewhat of a shock to those who hold that post, but Devon and Cornwall Commissioner Alison Hernandez has said she’s ‘disturbed’ as the justification which has been used to carry out the sweeping change.

Speaking to DevonLive Alison Hernandez, Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall, confirmed there was an impending sense of doom after the Labour government’s previous announcement that it intended to establish mayoral authorities, saying that it was always known to her that the government’s aim was to transfer the powers of policing into mayoral models.

However, she observed that such a new system was not currently in place in the South West and there was no firm timeline as to when it would be. As such, while her role now had an end date of May 2028, nothing was even close to being prepared to take over the responsibilities of the Crime Commissioner.

Asked if this meant the Government had to get the regional mayoral system in place in the South West by May 2028, she explained: “I would like to say they have to have, but they don’t.”

She revealed: “They’ve come up with an alternative option for areas that don’t have a mayor – and this is my worry, because from what I’ve heard the minister say in her announcement, it will basically be four leaders of councils appointing somebody to do the day job that will probably cost the same as me, but will be unelected. So I don’t quite see the point in that.

“They [the council leaders] are not even directly elected. They’re directly elected to a ward and then appointed by the group. So you’ve got unelected people putting into an unelected position. I mean, it’s just jobs for the boys, really, putting an unelected person in place to do the job that I’m doing, probably costing the same as me without the democratic mandate.”

Alison said she would like to push for a Devon and Cornwall mayor, saying it would be better for the people of the two counties and the Isles of Scilly, “to be able to hold someone to account if their policing is failing them” adding that a Devon and Cornwall Mayor would effectively be like the Crime Commissioner “but with more powers.”

She said such a mayor would likely appoint an unelected deputy to do the work of the crime commissioner “but at least the accountability sits with the elected individual, but they’ll cover the whole patch.

“The South West is one of the least coterminous areas with other agencies than anywhere else in the country and we’re likely to have the least elected mayors being established, which means we’ll have less of a voice in government and less of an ability to secure investment from the government in our patches.

“So I’m particularly worried about that because that democratic deficit for a mayor is actually a voice of those people to government and to secure investment. A lot of money will flow through mayors, not through leaders of councils.”

Alison said she recognised that all force areas struggled with government funding, querying why so much money is “plowed into the Met” and other metropolitan areas like Manchester and Merseyside “and the rest of us suffer”.

She said: “We’d like to see more evening up of that funding. We’ve got a particular issue in the South West, which is the summer, which is not recognised in our funding formula.

“I will say the last government did implement the second homes doubling of council tax and that has been a game changer, so I do recognize there has been an effort to help areas that have lots of second homes to be able to have an investment. That was worth £6m to Devon and Cornwall Police last year. It’s not small fry.”

Speaking of her fears for the future, she admitted she was worried for her team who would be out of a job, but noted that the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) may now see staff leave to find more secure jobs over the next two and a half years, which meant “we may even struggle to function and carry out my statutory duty.”

“As I am an executive politician, which means I have powers to make decisions and I’m a roll your sleeves up and get on with the job kind of person, I actually do have skills and abilities to be able to do some things myself, but I am nervous [of the future of the Office].

“That’s why I want to spend my time now influencing what comes next so that the people of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly must get what they need to feel confident in policing, and the fact that you’re not going to spend the same amount of money doing something just in an unelected way.”

Alison said that she fully recognised that her role is an elected one and that she is fully accountable to the public, adding: “That’s why I’m really clear when I have conversations about putting the council tax up every year, I’m really clear and transparent about what I expect that to be spent on.

“So that’s how we’ve opened so many police stations, that’s why we’ve got record numbers of police officers in the force, because I’ve always said I’ll only spend it on investment in our communities, and I’m really proud of what we’ve done.

“I’m just very, very disturbed that the two evidence bases that they’re using to get rid of us are extremely weak – one of which is our turnout, and I’ve already said they could just move the election to align with council elections. The second is the fact that the cost that they’ll save with that election and it’s just not there, I’m afraid. They just need to move the election and save the money that way – they’ll end up appointing someone that costs the same as me, but they’ll be unelected.

“Most local elections are round a 30 to 35 per cent turnout. I think our biggest issue is that they’ve left us in a standalone election.

“There are often multiple elections that happen at once, and that is a better way to save money. It means everybody can go out and choose who they want to represent them at different levels of government.

“We’ve got so many by-elections going on at the moment, people don’t even realise they’ve got a by-election!

“If you have elections out of sync, which Police and Crime Commissioner ones are, then people don’t take as much notice.”

For her remaining time, Alison said she has a number of key priorities she wants to see through.

She said: “One is making sure that we don’t let this disrupt our day-to-day running of my office and the force.

“I’ve spoken to the Chief Constable [James Vaughan] and we will endeavour to do our utmost and keep our energy going.

“While this is all happening, my team will continue to be the appeals body for complaints.

“We’ll continue to support victim services in the way that we do and we’ll still be a correspondence if people want me to help them in things, they can still reach out to me.

“I will endeavour to make sure we still carry on doing the job.

“But the one thing I really need to sort out is the Prisoners Building Homes program we established in Devon and Cornwall that has now gone national.

“The reason we’ve been unable to really work with that in the way that we’ve wanted is because I don’t have a power of competence like a council does. I can’t set up companies, but it needs to be set up into a company to actually manage it properly.

“Trying to bottom out Prisoners Building Homes, is where I’d be going next, because I think that’s the most innovative thing anybody has ever invented.”

Police and crime commissioners to be scrapped.

What now for our selfie girl? 

Will this announcement free Alison Hernandez up to bid for the (yet to be created) “Mayor of Devon”? – Owl

[As commentator “Indigenous” posted yesterday: “So, the completely pointless commissioners are finally being scrapped, good riddance. Don’t hang around until 2028 like a bad smell Hernandez, RESIGN NOW.”]

Police and crime commissioner (PCC) roles are to be abolished, it has been announced.

news.sky.com 

The 41 elected officials in England and Wales, who get paid between £73,300 and £101,900 a year, will continue until the end of the current term in 2028.

Their powers will then be transferred to elected mayors “wherever possible” and council leaders, who will lead new policing and crime boards.

The transfer to regional mayors will bring other areas in line with London, where the mayor oversees the Metropolitan Police and holds its operational head to account.

At least £100m will be saved by the end of this parliament in 2029 through scrapping the roles – enough to fund about an extra 320 police constables a year, policing minister Sarah Jones said.

“The model has failed to live up to expectations,” she told the House of Commons.

She said PCCs do important work and thanked all those who have held the office, as well as their staff, but said the model “has weakened local police accountability and has had perverse impacts on the recruitment of chief constables”.

Ms Jones also said less than a quarter of voters turned out to vote for them last year, and two in five people are unaware they even exist.

She said there are no plans to create mayors in Wales in order to transfer PCC powers to them.

First elected in 2012, PCCs oversee non-operational aspects of policing, such as managing their local policing budgets and holding the chief constable to account.

Introduced by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government, they replaced police authorities.

Although candidates can stand as part of a political party, police and crime commissioners (PCCs) are required to swear an oath of impartiality before taking office.

Former Dorset PCC Martyn Underhill, also a former police officer, told Sky News he welcomed the news and said he stepped down in 2021 after two terms because “I didn’t think it was working”.

He said the mayoral model is a “better version” because they can bring in experts, but said he was concerned for the areas that do not have mayors.

Mr Underhill said he does not support elected people holding policing to account “because it becomes too political” – and said it was “rubbish” that PCCs are able to set budgets, because he was “dictated to by the central government”.

‘Tinkering around the edges’

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused the government of “tinkering around the edges” as he said they are “failing on crime and policing”.

“It is simply rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic,” he added.

He said his government had already begun transferring PCC roles to mayors, but questioned how that is superior to PCCs and said it “won’t really save any money”.

The Lib Dems’ shadow attorney general Ben Maguire said his party welcomed the announcement and had been calling for PCCs to be scrapped for years, calling it a “failed Tory experiment which cost taxpayers dearly”.

But he said transferring their roles to mayors “is not the answer” as he said it would give “even more power to single individuals with dubious democratic mandates and little scrutiny or accountability”.

Ms Jones thanked his “robust attack on a policy that his own party introduced as part of the coalition”.

Our selfie girl, Alison Hernandez, was first elected as Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in May 2016.

 What has she ever achieved? – Owl

Vital report says Devon and Cornwall Police ‘requires improvement’

Paul Greaves www.devonlive.com 

It needs to improve how it reviews vetting decisions, manages complaints and monitors the use of its IT systems

A new inspection report says Devon and Cornwall Police ‘requires improvement’ in key areas of integrity. It needs to improve how it reviews vetting decisions, manages complaints and monitors the use of its IT systems, the police inspectorate has said.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) assessed the effectiveness of Devon and Cornwall Police in three main areas as part of its integrity inspection programme.

It has been told that it ‘requires improvement’ in its vetting of police officers and staff, professional standards and counter-corruption arrangements.

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said she was ‘disappointed’ but not surprised by the findings, made public on Wednesday, October 29.

HMICFRS found that the force:

• actively looks for evidence of disproportionality in its vetting decisions and is adequately staffed to meet demand;
• should improve how it explores and records information which might question the suitability of an individual during the vetting process. It also needs to implement an effective quality assurance process to review vetting decisions;
• has an established process for sharing some relevant adverse information between departments, to help uphold professional standards;
• needs to improve the way it manages complaints and conduct matters, and its timeliness in relation to handling public complaints;
• proactively looks for corruption-related intelligence as a matter of routine. The counter-corruption unit’s IT monitoring system automatically alerts relevant personnel if it identifies potential misuse; and
• should improve how it monitors the use of its IT systems so it can effectively monitor, audit and investigate potential misuse.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, Kathryn Stone said: “The work of force vetting units, professional standards departments and counter-corruption units has never been more vital, with increased demand and focus on their activities.

“When police officers or staff are found to be involved in misconduct, it reduces public trust and confidence in the police service. We must make sure that the right people join the police service and those working to keep our communities safe can be trusted to do so.

“We were disappointed to find that the force requires improvement in all areas of our inspection. It needs to implement an effective quality assurance process to review vetting decisions. And it should improve the way it manages complaints and conduct matters, including the time it takes to respond to public complaints.”

The report said it was ‘positive’ to find that Devon and Cornwall Police proactively looks for corruption-related intelligence and had an established process for sharing some relevant adverse information between departments.

The inspector said the force’s progress will be monitored.

Alison Hernandez said: “Although disappointed, I am not surprised at the findings within this report.

“I have previously placed on record my own disappointment with the police’s performance in a number of the areas highlighted by HMICFRS and have already put in place a number of measures to address them.

“These measures include my authorisation of an extra £500,000 in the police’s budget to deal with complaints made by the public, and by putting in place stronger scrutiny and oversight processes.

“This enhanced scrutiny has included me taking a ‘deep-dive’ into the performance of the Professional Standards Department through my new Accountability Board, and the creation of a new Police Conduct Oversight Board, which provides me with oversight of police misconduct cases and public complaints.

“Through this oversight work, it is clear to me that under the leadership of Chief Constable James Vaughan performance has – and continues to – improve in nearly all areas. However, there is clearly still much work to do, and I am grateful to His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for the work that they continue to do in ensuring that these matters – critical for public confidence – remain in the spotlight.”

As the deadline for submitting proposals to the government on council reorganisation nears, Labour controlled Plymouth and Exeter have formed an unholy alliance with Tory (minority controlled) Torbay to carve Devon into four unitary authorities. One for each of their urban areas expanded to include room for development, and one for the remaining “countryside”.

This is the most complex reorganisation proposal for Devon so far. 

It should be seen in the light of last week’s announcement that the government has taken the axe to Surrey, splitting it north/south into two unitaries: West and East Surrey. This is the first county split to be announced. As part of the deal, the Treasury (i.e. the taxpayer) will take on much of the debt of Woking, which was effectively declared bankrupt two years ago. 

The relevance is that Surrey and “ceremonial” Devon both have populations of around 1.2 million. 

In this split the three most populous settlements: Woking; Guildford and Walton-on-Thames  all lie in the western half. There is no special unitary treatment for these. 

This reorganisation has the benefit, if that’s the right word, of simplicity. Were Devon to follow this model then the obvious solution to the government’s guidelines would be a similar north/south division into just two unitaries with Plymouth and Torbay absorbed into the western half and Exeter into the eastern half.

Simples, but Owl worries that Plymouth’s and Exeter’s labour leaders are having a disproportionate influence on Labour minsters who have no feel for the countryside. Bad luck Devon with not a single Labour councillor to provide feedback after the last election.

A new plan for Devon to be carved up into four unitary authorities has emerged.

Miles Davis www.bbc.co.uk 

Under the government’s massive shake up of local government, all district and county councils will be abolished so that one authority will run all council services in any one area.

Plymouth, Torbay and Exeter have now revealed they are all working together on a plan to create four unitary authorities – one for each of their urban areas and one for the rest of Devon.

This new plan is directly opposed to schemes put forward by the district councils and by Devon County Council, whose leader described it as an “attempt to cling on to the vestiges of power”.

Currently, most of Devon is governed by a two-tier system where services like housing and recycling are run by eight district councils while issues like highways and social care are run by Devon County Council.

In Plymouth and Torbay, all council services are run by unitary authorities that are already in place – Plymouth City Council and Torbay Council.

The government has indicated it wants any unitary authorities going forward to have a population of about 500,000, external but has said there could be some flexibility around that figure.

Torbay, which has a population of about 140,000, has now said it wants to continue as a unitary authority after local government reorganisation and wants to keep its boundaries as they are.

Plymouth wants to expand its population – currently about 265,000 – by taking over parts of the South Hams.

Exeter City Council currently operates at district council level but wants to expand to take in towns like Exmouth, Dawlish and Crediton and become a unitary authority in the local government reorganisation.

Torbay, which is Conservative-controlled, announced its plan on Friday which was swiftly backed by Plymouth and Exeter, which are both Labour-controlled.

David Thomas, leader of Torbay Council, said in a statement: “By taking a collaborative, evidence-based approach, we can build a model of local government that is more responsive, efficient, and aligned with the way people live their daily lives.”

Plymouth City Council and Exeter City Council issued a joint statement which said urban areas like Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay were “the engines of growth for both urban and rural communities”.

Plymouth’s leader, Tudor Evans, said: “This model gives us the best of both worlds: councils that are big enough to be sustainable, but close enough to stay accountable.”

Phil Bialyk, leader of Exeter City Council, said the plan recognised “the unique characteristics of Devon’s urban and rural landscape and communities”.

Devon County Council previously announced it wanted to see a new One Devon unitary authority which would keep the same boundaries as the county council and retain Plymouth and Torbay as they are.

In response to the plan put forward by Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay, the Devon County Council leader, Liberal Democrat Julian Brazil, said: “It’s just a blatant attempt by Labour and the Conservatives to cling on to the vestiges of power in Devon.”

The district councils – excluding Exeter City council – have put forward an idea known as the 4-5-1 plan.

That would involve one unitary authority for West Devon, Teignbridge, South Hams and Torbay, a second authority for North Devon, Torridge, Mid Devon, East Devon and Exeter with Plymouth remaining as a standalone unitary authority.

All plans will need to be submitted to government by 28 November with feedback expected from the government around March 2026.