The Council had before it a
background report to NOTE and agree the nomination
of the Leader of the Council to be the Council’s
representative on the Team Devon Joint Committee.
The Leader of the Council
outlined the contents of the report from the Team Devon Joint
Committee.
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On the 16 December, the Deputy Prime Minister
released a white paper on Devolution to all authorities in England.
Contained in the white paper were ambitious plans for more powers
to be devolved to all areas including regional Mayors for all areas
of England.
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As part of the White Paper, it also stated the
Government’s intention for areas to work together to secure
funding and achieve more influence over the important decisions
related to the Council’s area. That was the reason why it had
been decided to set up the combined County authority, and the Joint
Committee as referenced on tonight’s agenda was to agree the
governance feeding into that, which Members had been asked tonight
to vote on and to agree to elect the Leader as the representative
to the body.
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Also within the White Paper it made reference about
Labour’s plans to simplify local government and abolish areas
with two tier arrangements like Devon. The expectation was that
with the Combined County Authority (CCA) already having been
agreed, Devon’s journey towards devolution had already begun,
and this was recognised in the Government’s White Paper.
Whilst the Council knew at some point it would need to look at
further devolution and the possibility of structural change to
support wider public service reform, the creation of the CCA
indicated a review would be needed within 3 years. It was believed
that time would be taken to review arrangements in a considered
way, with the White Paper notably avoiding statements around
top-down imposition or compulsion..
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Unfortunately the Government in their proposal
included a temptation for those who believed that they may lose
their seats in next May’s planned County Council elections.
They offered Councils with elections next year the possibility to
postpone those elections if they put forward proposals for
deepening devolution, accepting a Mayor, and reorganising Local
Government into Unitary Authorities.
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The partnership work with District and County
Council had been solid and respectful up until this point.
Regretfully, in a nakedly-blatant political move and an abhorrent
anti-democratic attempt to hold on to power, the Conservative
Leader of Devon County Council was considering putting forward a
proposal for Devon and Torbay to join together and create a huge
Unitary Council that would cover all of Devon and nearly 1 million
people. As a way to delay what many see as the inevitable downfall
of his administration, he seems to be openly suggesting that
Government holds off from the whole ‘democracy’ thing
for a while.
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The Leader of Devon County Council had still not
approached this Council’s Leader to explain his rationale,
but he had planned an extraordinary meeting in January to vote
through the proposal and was quoted in the National Press as saying
‘we will put our proposal by the 10th January, and then if it
was accepted, we will follow up with a more detailed proposal. When
asked what the proposal would look like , he replied ‘a
unitary Devon’ and that the White Paper made him and his
peers realise that two tier areas such as Devon were basically no
more.
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The Leader was proud of Mid Devon District Council,
everybody was, the hard working staff, the excellent in house
leisure centres, high performance in house waste collection
services and the ability to reach a balanced budget year after
year. This Council had good management the opposite to Devon County
Council, which struggled to fund its own services and had a record
of failing the most vulnerable in society that tainted us all. Any
move to a Unitary Authority with the remnants of Devon County
Council at the heart was flawed by this imbalance from the start
and our much valued and celebrated discretionary services risked
being lost. Devon County could not be trusted with our libraries,
they cannot be trusted with looking after the children of Devon,
and the Leader would not trust them with leisure centres or waste
services. How quickly would this Council’s top 10%
performance be dragged down to the level that the County Council
tolerates? A Devon Unitary Authority
would be too big an area to manage services like the Housing
Department or leisure services and the issues faced here would be
lost to larger areas elsewhere. Money follows voters, this Council
were not naïve to know that we were a pretty rural District
and centralised investment rarely flowed into our
communities.
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The Leader did not support a Unitary Authority, but
if it was thrust upon the Council, he would want it to be on the
terms that best served the residents rather than a detached,
failing County Council, and on terms that were supported by a
democratic mandate.
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This could only happen if this Council submitted an
alternative proposal. The Leader was now speaking with other
District Leaders to discuss the viability of creating a smaller
Unitary Authority which would cover around half of Devon and still
be in line with emerging Government objectives with regard to
population. If an alternative proposal was agreed with the other
Districts it would be brought to an extraordinary meeting of this
Council which he would ask the Chair to call before the 10th
January deadline. At this point, if accepted he would want to see a
wide ranging consultation process and if possible to include a
referendum of the residents of this District.
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He appreciated this would not come easy to all, the
hardworking Councillors or the fantastic staff at this Council, we
would continue to do the best for the residents in Mid Devon and
prevent our important and vibrant District being swallowed up by a
mixture of County Council greed and failure.
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In light of those developments, he asked Members to
defer this agenda item, and not appoint him as the Council’s
representative but to support the now ongoing and rapidly changing
work being undertaken by him as Leader, Cabinet and officers. He
would ensure he would give information to all as it became
available and keep those affected updated at every
step.
Consideration was given
to:
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It was deeply disappointing that Devon County
Council had chosen to proceed in this way without any consultation
with District Councils. Significant decisions could not and should
not be made unilaterally or without the involvement of all tiers of
local Government, let alone the residents that Members were elected
to serve.
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To cancel the elections struck at the very heart of
the democratic system. Elections were a cornerstone of democracy,
ensuring that power was held to account and that residents had a
voice in choosing who represented them. To deny the people of Devon
their democratic right to vote in 2025 was nothing short of an
attack on democracy itself.
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To be clear: the proposal set out by the Leader of
Devon County Council was not about improving governance,
representation, or services for residents. It was a blatant attempt
to cling to power.
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If there was to be any reorganisation of local
government, it must be done transparently, with full consultation
and, crucially, a democratic mandate from the people it would
affect. Anything less would undermine public trust in local
government and damage the principles of accountability and
representation.
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This Council must stand firm in opposing this
undemocratic move, for the residents and to protect their right to
vote, to ensure their voices were heard, and to demand better for
the Council’s communities.
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All Members of this Council to join together in
rejecting those proposals and calling for any changes to local
government in Devon to be driven by the needs and wishes of the
residents, not by the political ambitions of a few.
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The negativity from the Leader and a closed mind for
the future. The residents want value for money, if the residents
had a better service and value for money in becoming a Unitary
Authority.
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If it cost money to have an authority closer for the
people and enabled to do the job better this would be
supported.
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The Conservative Members had not been consulted
about this initiative and knew very little about it. To remain
positive and be robust for the future.
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The Chair advised Members that there was disquiet at
Devon County Council.
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The financial state at Devon County
Council.
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Where was the missing Ofsted report from Devon
County Council?
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This was a significant development and such debate
needed consideration for the future.
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The Joint Committee had 10 members and only 2
District Councillors appointed but with no rights to
vote.
The Leader
MOVED an AMENDMENT and seconded by
Cllr S Clist.
To defer the
following:
That Council noted the
background report and agreed to the creation and formulation of the
Team Devon Joint Committee as proposed in
the Devon
County Council Report
To agree the nomination of the
Leader of the Council to be the Council’s representative on
the Team Devon Joint Committee.
Upon a vote being taken,
the AMENDMENT was declared to have
been CARRIED.