Could Devon's 11 councils merge into three?

A '1-5-4' structure suggested

A proposal about how Devon could be reshaped in the biggest overhaul of local government in 50 years looks set to suggest the county should have three councils.

A so-called ‘1-5-4’ proposal is understood to have been agreed upon by several Devon councils, with details set to be announced in the coming days.

The model suggests that the ‘1’ is Plymouth, which will remain as a unitary authority but may expand its borders slightly east into the South Hams.

The ‘5’ in the proposal would be a combination of East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon, Exeter and Torridge into one large council, while the ‘4’ would be South Hams, Teignbridge, West Devon and Torbay merging into another.

The proposal comes as the government looks to sweep away the two-tier model of local government where two councils have responsibility for different services within the same area; such as Devon County Council being responsible for roads, but district councils collecting household waste within the same boundary.

Instead, the government wants areas to have fewer but larger unitary councils responsible for all the services in their area. It would prefer councils to have cover areas of 500,000 people, but may allow so-called ‘growth areas’ to have smaller numbers.

Councils have been given until Thursday 21 March to submit initial proposals to the government about how their areas could be reorganised to create a smaller number of bigger councils.

Devon has 11 councils at present, but this could reduce to three if the 1-5-4 proposal is accepted.

A source with knowledge of the talks, who did not want to be named, said seven of Devon’s district councils are collaborating on the proposal, but that Exeter – the county’s eighth district council – still had ambitions of going it alone and becoming a unitary council.

However, leaders and chief executives of the seven districts in favour of it appear to agree that the 1-5-4 model could be viable.

One of the main aspects of friction, though, appears to be how Plymouth would expand its administrative boundaries, the source said.

Some believe it would make sense for Plymouth Council to assume responsibility for Saltash, but that notion is deemed controversial because it is in Cornwall.

The more likely expansion is into the South Hams, but exactly how far is likely to be a key part of any future debate.