Leader criticises alternative council restructure proposal as 'ineffective'

THE leader of Exeter City Council has said a plan to reorganise local councils in Devon would be 'ineffective' and 'unable to deliver for residents.

- by ECHO REPORTER

Exeter City Council leader Cllr Phil Bialyk

With the government proposing an overhaul of local authorities, various councils in the county have put forward suggestions for how it could be done.

Whitehall wants to do away with the two-tier system used in places like Devon, where a county council makes some decisions and district councils are responsible for other matters. It wants authorities to cover everything within their boundaries, as happens in Plymouth and Torbay, but with populations of 500,000 or more.

Devon County Council put forward a proposal last month that would see Plymouth and Torbay staying as they are and a single authority covering the rest of the county effectively merging the exisitng eight district councils and county authority.

Most of the district councils have put forward an alternative proposal to have three authorities in Devon, while Exeter wants to go it alone by taking in towns and villages in the surrounding areas to get closer to the government's target population size.

County council leader Councillor Julian Brazil is not a fan of the change of structure, but said that if the Government is “intent on forcing through changes which will cost many millions of pounds to implement” then the option dubbed New Devon “has emerged as the least worst.”