Next government will be asked to approve 16 Devon projects

The general election may have put Devon and Torbay’s devolution deal on hold

The general election may have put Devon and Torbay’s devolution deal on hold, along with £16 million of funding to get the initiative under way, but the new leader of Devon County Council said 16 projects will be shown to the new minister on day one of the new government.

The projects, focused around housing, climate change, boosting the economy, and support to get care leavers into work, need government approval.  Conservative council leader James McInnes (Hatherleigh and Chagford) said they need to get cracking as the money must be spent by March 2025.

“We have come up with 16 really good unanimously agreed projects. It’s all gone very smoothly

“We have to deal with this hiccup in the road, which is a general election, so everything is on hold until then, but civil servants have said that we have moved along sufficiently that these projects will be put under the nose of the new minister once they get appointed.”

Cllr McInnes, who recently took over as leader of the council, says the £16 million has been decoupled from the Devon and Torbay devolution deal so doesn’t depend on it going ahead.

He is confident that whatever government comes into power after the general election will be support devolution.

Devon County Council and Torbay Councils will lead devolution in Devon and be known as a combined county authority (CCA) with district councils being represented by two members on a governing body and through a partnership called Team Devon.

Despite fears that the role of district councils will be small, Cllr McInnes, who was a member of West Devon Borough Council for 16 years, thinks otherwise and is determined that all areas of the county will be better off under the new combined authority.

Cllr McInness said: “Devon County Council formed a very close relationship with district councils through the pandemic, and Team Devon will formalise that relationship. Central government does not recognise district councils. They keep talking about unitary authorities and county councils, but I think district councils are really important

“They are already the housing authorities and no-one is trying to take that away. We want to enhance that but we know there are some district councils that are better talking to Homes England (the government’s housing agency) and getting money out of them to support housing in their area than others.

“About £4 million is being handed back every year to the government from Homes England and we think we could work far more effectively together with the district councils and Torbay to see that all that money is spent in Devon.

“We have really got our act together on this and we have a whole series of project to provide the housing that we so desperately need. We just need the government to press the button and give us the money.”

And he added that if Labour gets into power, it might want the Labour-led Plymouth City Council to join the devolution deal.

Plymouth pulled out earlier this year saying it did not wish to relinquish control of transport.

“I was very sad when Plymouth pulled out and would be glad to bring them into the fold, but we don’t want to start the whole process again…We are so far down the road now,” he said.

Devon’s devolution deal was supported following a public consultation.

Regulations will need to be approved by ministers to create the CCA which was expected to be completed this autumn. A general election, however, may delay the process.