Agenda item

To receive a report from the Chief Executive regarding the latest developments on Local Government Reorganisation and Devolution, alongside a verbal update from the Cabinet Member for Parish and Community Engagement.

The Committee received and NOTED an *update from the Chief Executive on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and Devolution and the results of the public engagement exercise undertaken over the summer.

The following was highlighted:

·         Despite the ministerial changes the Council did not expect any significant changes of policy direction.

·         The deadline for submissions remained the 28 November 2025.  Following that, the expected timetable would be that near Easter 2026 the Government would formally consult on all of the proposals it considered viable.  This would give everyone an opportunity to express their views for the Devon Local Government system, following which a decision could be potentially made in autumn 2026.

·         Across the 11 Councils in Devon there were still differences of opinion.  It was possible that 4 or 5 proposals would go forward in November 2025.

·         Full details of the Council public engagement exercise were included in Appendix A.   Other Councils had also chosen to carry out some form of community liaison although not in the same way.  The results would be amalgamated across 7 of the 8 districts in order to better understand the priorities and concerns of residents across Devon.

·         There would be an Extraordinary Council meeting taking place for Members to consider the submission before it being submitted on 28 November 2025.

Discussion took place regarding:

·         Concerns regarding the geographical spread and the long travel distances over poor roads and erratic public transport.  It was explained that every proposal would seek ways to assure the Government that it could deliver high quality, sustainable and financially effective services locally to ensure connectivity to local communities and local democracy.

·         Many areas of Devon did not raise large amounts of Council Tax - would that issue be ignored in discussions and should it be more strongly represented with a financial balancing mechanism for widely dispersed rural areas? It was explained that the Government had not explained how the 6 criteria would be weighted and that it had flexibility to make the decisions it felt was the correct one.  It was hoped that the Government would make decisions based on getting the right form of local government for communities for potentially the next 50 years. 

·         The role of the Scrutiny Committee going forward.  It was clarified that the role of Scrutiny would be important moving forward to ensure there was confidence in this Council as part of the wider collective implementation and to ensure the Council was on track to achieve that as timetables would need to be met.  

·         Whether the figures from KPMG gave any financial indication in the difference of cost effectiveness of urban versus rural transition into Unitary Councils.  It was explained that it depended upon how it was modelled and the financial difference between all proposals.

The Cabinet Member for Parish and Community Engagement updated the Committee with regard to the State of District Debate and highlighted the following:-

·         A total of 32 people had attended the State of District Debate which was held on 17 September and was a valuable platform for discussing the ongoing Local Government Reorganisation with contributions from all those that attended.

·         The evening began with an update from the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive who had outlined the current status and strategic direction of the reorganisation process.

·         Practical experiences were shared by Somerset Council who talked about obstacles they had overcome.

·         Liz Brooks-Hocking, Chair of the Devon Association of Local Councils gave a presentation which touched on the importance of communication, addressed governance and financial implications including asset management and budgetary considerations.

·         The Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change gave a forward looking session on climate change highlighting environmental priorities.

·         Discussions had taken place with regard to assets and how they might be funded.

·         The evening concluded with a panel discussion encouraging open dialogue and questions from attendees.

·         Positive feedback had been received in that attendees felt information was being shared with them.

·         It was important to keep dialogue open with a promise to revisit LGR again in the future.

Discussion took place regarding:

·         Whether Somerset attendees had commented on travelling distance times?  It was explained that locality based working was set up with the best of intentions however that did not work for Town and Parish Councils who were having to cluster together to make that locality based working model work for the new Council and so different ways of working were looked at to work more effectively. 

Note: *Report previously circulated.