How to respond

Owl is sceptical about the use of box ticking surveys and questionnaires. They seem designed to meet procedural requirements easily processed by computer, rather than gather genuine feedback. 

The issues surrounding the elimination of the tier of local government closest to residents with consequential dilution of elected representation are profound.

Ironically, the government claims it is removing a tier of local government, district councils, while, at the same time, planning to add another on top, the strategic mayoral authority. This form of devolution does not bring local decision making closer to people.

Owl will, therefore, be sending in a narrative response and not be completing the “survey”.

See this companion post describing the proposals.

The Consultation 

Nitty gritty (Taken from the gov.uk website)

This consultation will last for 7 weeks from 5 February 2026 to 23:59 on 26 March 2026. 

Enquiries:

For any enquiries about the consultation please contact:

lgrconsultationresponse@communities.gov.uk

How to respond:

You may respond by completing the online survey.

If you are responding in writing, please make it clear which proposal you are responding to. You can email your response to the questions in this consultation to lgrconsultationresponse@communities.gov.uk

Alternatively written responses should be sent to:

LGR Consultation
Fry Building 2NE
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

When replying please include your name and indicate in which council area your home or organisation address is located:

• Devon County Council
• Plymouth City Council
• Torbay Council
• outside the affected area

We would also like you to confirm whether you are replying as a named consultee, submitting an official response on behalf of an organisation that is not on the list of named consultees, or replying as an individual.

Using the online survey

Ticking the Boxes

What to expect if you use the online survey

The same set of questions are asked of each of the five proposals. You do not have to respond to all five but it is unclear how a nil response will be treated.

Each question requires you to select, on a six point scale, on how strongly you agree or disagree with the question, viz: strongly agree, somewhat agree, neither agree nor disagree, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree, don’t know.

The questions ask do you agree/disagree:

• Q1 that the proposal suggests councils that are based on sensible geographies and economic areas?
• Q2 that the proposed councils will be able to deliver the outcomes they describe in the proposal?
• Q3 that the proposed councils are the right size to be efficient, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks? 
• Q4 that the proposed councils will deliver high quality, sustainable public services?
• Q5 that the proposal has been informed by local views and will meet local needs?
• Q6 that establishing the councils in this proposal will support devolution arrangements?
• Q7 that the proposal enables stronger community engagement and gives the opportunity for neighbourhood empowerment?

These questions are followed by a free text box to explain the answers you have provided to questions 1-7, referring to the question numbers as part of your answer. You may also use the box to provide any other comments you have on the proposal.

Proposals 3 to 5 involve boundary changes so each has an additional question followed by a free text box.

The additional question is: to what extent do you agree or disagree that the proposal sets out a strong public services and financial sustainability justification for boundary change?