Planned changes in Devon!

Boundary changes and their effect on us?

I will try to be objective about these potentially important changes which are intended to effect the way we are administered - be it transport, development and planning, environmental and refuse and all the other services currently handled by both our County and District Councils. So, it will affect us all. It will have a direct impact through our Council taxes and it is therefore in our interests to ensure that the best system is in play.

Let's look at the background. [For the sake of simplicity, in all this I will ignore the Torbay & Plymouth existing Unitary Authorities]

As a consequence of Exeter City Council's fighting for Unitary Authority status - despite not having the support of either the County or any District Council in Devon - their application was refused on the grounds that it was not a large enough population base to make it economically viable. Instead, the government charged the Boundary Commission to set up a Committee to recommend the best Unitary organisation for Devon, with "no change" (or the 2-tier system) NOT being an option open to them.

The Boundary Committee for Devon was required to seek proposals roughly by the end of 1^st quarter 2008; make their considered recommendation by end of 2^nd quarter; cost and finalise by end of 3^rd quarter and, following final consultation and public feedback, to present their full recommendation to the Minister of State by end of this year. She will then consider their report, listen to any public comments and decide her course of action by Valentine's Day 2009 - with legal implementation in 2010. Only in January 2009 could the case for retaining the status quo be presented.

Where have we got to?

Devon County Council, all the District Councils and Exeter City Council - submitted proposals which essentially said "make us a Unitary Authority".

1.     Exeter needed to enlarge their catchment (tax) area and suggested expanding to Honiton.

2.     South Hams, North, Mid and East Devon District Councils essentially said 4 geographical Unitaries with the elimination of DCC.

3.     Devon County Council said one Unitary (whole of Devon) administered through 28 "market town (or Community) Boards" (the likes of Axminster, Seaton, Barnstaple etc spread across the county) with powers delegated down to them. Planning would still be regionally based but most admin would be central.

In July this year the Boundary Committee recommended the DCC proposal with an additional suggestion that an Exeter-to-Exmouth Unitary area be considered. Details of how all this will work and what the costs and savings might be are being prepared. Comments regarding this proposal should be submitted to the Boundary Committee (see contacts below) before 26^th September.

At the time of writing (15^th August) we have :-

- no idea how the local "Boards" will work, their budgets and funding

- no information regarding their areas of control, responsibility, make-up (other than consisting of Town & Parish Councillors and Representatives and ties with - but no control of - police/health/fire services)

- no costing at all of the new Unitary - but to meet Govt. aims it has to show a paper cost saving [and therefore will - as did Derbyshire and Yorkshire in their original justification - now amended!! Alex ]

- no accountability or responsibility for follow-through and achievement of any promise

What are the current Parish Council thoughts?

1.     We are concerned that the sizes of Exeter and the new town/conurbation of Cranbrook, their population density and voting influence could adversely affect the rural areas of Devon, including Membury. We want to mitigate this. [Remember Cranbrook is planned to be as big as Exeter is today within 20 years!]

2.     Exeter needs to expand it's boundary if it is to be financially viable as a Unitary Authority. There has been no let-up in their determination to be stand-alone which, in our opinion, is to the detriment of the rest of Devon. (see also 3 below) If their income is removed from the rest of Devon you still have the huge network of roads, schools etc to be funded - through Council Tax - by the remaining population.

3.     The Exeter/Exmouth Unitary would split eastern Devon from the rest of Devon: make admin and influence extremely difficult - we object to this proposal.

4.     Those Councillors who have served you during the changes from Rural to a District /County two-tier organisation believe that the present system has bedded down well with local control (District) given to those aspects of administration that are locally based (eg Planning) and the broader ones (eg Education & transport) taken at County level or higher.

5.     Why change it? As a parish Council - and each of us as individuals - we need to find out what are the benefits to us parishioners before we can make a balanced decision. With no information forthcoming we think we would have to try to preserve the status quo.

What are our options?

Those Parish Councillors able to, have attended all possible meetings concerning this important subject. Indeed, our view has changed from originally preferring the County proposal to now questioning the need for change. A specific meeting was set up by the Devon Association of Parish Councils, at which both EDDC and DCC were to present their cases, then answer questions from 23 parish councils local to Axminster. However, the official DCC representative did not arrive [although there were 2 County Councillors present including the Vice-Chairman they declined to speak on behalf of DCC]. Hence none of the questions above could be put to someone who could answer them in any detail and the debate was obviously one-sided! This meeting was re-convened on 26^th August but, in questioning, it was admitted that the detail of structure, organisation, number of Unitary Councillors, local budgets and responsibility for them, was not yet determined. These details and consequential costs were deemed to be inconsequential at this stage, giving local Community Boards the opportunity to create the structure they wanted.

However, the financial justification for Unitary organisation will be published in three weeks (12^th September) based upon whatever assumptions are made NOW.

It was announced that the Minister of State has written to the Boundary Committee saying that they may consider the status quo as an option. The legal implications of this are not known at the time of writing but the Boundary Committee has stated that they would not recommend anything that was not superior to the existing 2-tier structure. South Hams, Mid, North and East Devon are all holding public meetings essentially requesting support for the maintenance of the status quo.

Further information is available from:

·     EDDC has been allowed to set up a Number 10 Downing Street public petition asking to maintain the status quo (at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/devonstatusquo/).

·     There is a link to the DCC website which shows the Devon town profiles and hinterlands.  The link sets out which parishes DCC think might have an affinity with their market town at http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/democracycommunities/neighbourhoods-villages/devontownprofiles.htm

·     The draft proposals for Unitary Local Government arrangements in Devon can be viewed on the Boundary Committee Website  http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/boundary-reviews/all-reviews/south-west/devon/devon-structural-review .

Anyone can write in to the Boundary Committee before 26^th September expressing their views.

The councillors on Membury Parish Council who have studied these proposals on your behalf feel that there is no justification in changing the existing system unless our questions are satisfactorily answered.

However, if there has to be a Unitary Authority then, of the two proposals open to us we would only support the single Devon Authority.

The Parish Council will respond in writing to the Boundary Committee before 26^th September and would appreciate your inputs before 5^th September. If you agree or disagree with the direction (objecting) in which we are currently moving then please make your views known to: Harry Tennant (Chairman), Nick Yool (Clerk) Jeremy Wallace or myself.

Our next Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 23^rd September, 7.30pm in the Village Hall.

Alex Tasker [Email: tasker.alex@googlemail.com OR alex@tasker306.orangehome.co.uk]