Plymouth population could increase if expansion happens

Support for 13 parish extension

Plymouth’s population could grow by around 13 per cent, if the city’s plans to absorb 13 neighbouring parishes come to fruition.

The city council will put the idea to the government this week, as its preferred option for local authority reorganisation.

If accepted, it would increase Plymouth’s population to 300,000 by taking Bickleigh, Shaugh Prior, Sparkwell, Brixton, Wembury, Cornwood, Harford, Ugborough, Ivybridge, Ermington, Yealmpton, Holberton and Newton and Noss from South Hams District Council.

The government wants to abolish the district and county two-tier system in favour of larger unitary councils delivering all services including education, roads and social care.

Over the coming months the city council says it will liaise with parish councils and others on a “comprehensive engagement process” to work up the idea. A decision will be made by the government later this year.

Council leader Tudor Evans (Lab, Ham) told a full council meeting on Monday that officers had been “working around the clock” to find a solution which would be “sufficient in scale but still delivered services without losing Plymouth’s distinctive urban identity”.

A report dismissed two other options – a shared health service area or a combined area covered by the Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan which includes all the parishes of  West Devon Borough Council and South Hams District Council.

The authority says these options would conflict with reorganisation in the rest of Devon or are “unwieldy” because of the large area.

But Cllr Chris Wood (Con, Eggbuckland) said bringing three council areas into one would result in a population size nearer 500,000, the figure suggested by the the government, and doesn’t involve splitting current council areas in two.

He said West Devon communities like Tavistock and Bere Alston look to Plymouth for work and hospital services and are linked by road and rail.

He requested more information so all three options could be looked at.

Cllr Evans denied claims the council was trying to “land grab” areas of planned growth.

He said the boundary proposed is the natural catchment area for Plymouth and people in these parishes look to the city for work, education or recreation.

Including large rural areas like West Devon and the wider South Hams was wrong for Plymouth because it was “profoundly urban and suburban,” he said.

“We could take this place from a thriving city to a rural backwater in no time, I’m not having it,” he said.

Leader of the Conservative group Cllr Andy Lugger (Southway) said this “modest extension” made perfect sense.

“We are the powerhouse for the region, we wish to share this success with our neighbours outside the city boundary.”

Cllr Patrick Nicholson (Ind, Plympton St Mary) said this was not about taking over the South Hams but how to best run services for local people.

He said Plympton had benefitted after it was brought into the Plymouth council area in the 1960s.

“We would not have had the swimming pool or the road infrastructure projects had we not been associated with Plymouth City Council,” he said.

Cllr John Stephens (Lab, Plymstock Dunstone) said many residents shared the desire to become part of a greater Plymouth.

He said families in the new town of Sherford have to deal with different authorities for children with special educational needs, even though they share the same postcode.

“There is a real life hinderance that this expanded Plymouth could resolve,” he said.

The city council’s cabinet is expected to rubber stamp the decision on Wednesday ahead of the deadline for submissions this Friday.