Devonwall debate dominates devolution discourse

This goes much deeper than jam or cream

Devon and Cornwall’s reluctance to join forces goes much deeper than the well-worn disagreement over whether cream or jam goes first on top of the scone.

For decades there has been resistance to any kind of official cross-Tamar alliance, but now it seems the two counties may be forced into what one local councillor describes as a ‘shotgun marriage’ as part of the most ambitious reorganisation of the country’s councils in decades.

The prospect of a combined ‘Devonwall’ is in the headlines again.

The government chose the third week of December, while the nation was distracted by Christmas, to launch its white paper on devolution, and gave local councils until the second week of January to respond.

Hence few council leaders and senior officers had a restful festive season. Instead there were frantic phone calls and video conferences, with the spectre of a new move towards ‘Devonwall’ looming over the festive feast.

The white paper boils down to the government wanting, in its view, to streamline local government and make it more efficient. Its preference is for an elected mayor to preside over a single large local authority

Such an organisation - set to be called a strategic mayoral authority - will oversee a number of unitary councils.

This will do away with the current structure in which Devon County Council performs some services across its administrative footprint while the county's eight districts - East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge, West Devon and Exeter City Council - perform other services in the same geographic area.

Essentially, under the government's proposals, Devon would be split into fewer, larger councils - which would each be responsible for all the services in their area - and a mayor would over see these larger councils and Cornwall in a new authority.

Torbay and Plymouth are unitary already, and Exeter also wants to become a unitary council.

To add a further level of complication, the previous Conservative government created a combined county authority comprising Devon and Torbay, which was effectively a step towards the current devolution formula without the decisive giant leap Labour is now making.

Torbay Council’s Conservative leader David Thomas told bay cabinet members they were deciding on a direction of travel for the next fifty-plus years.

Devon and Cornwall, he said, were ‘natural partners’.

“This is going to be a huge change,” he added. “It’s not a case of ‘if’ this is happening. It’s about ‘when’ it happens.

“It’s madness that we have been put in this position by national government.”

The government wants new unitary councils to cover at least 500,000 residents, although it has said it may make exceptions for some growth areas, including Exeter, which has a population of just under 130,000.

The ‘strategic’ elected mayors should oversee populations of around 1.2 million, the government thinks. About 1.2 million people currently live in Devon currently, while Cornwall has just under 580,000 residents. 

The mayoral strategic authorities will take on powers devolved from government and be given long-term investment for things like strategic planning, regeneration and housing delivery, culture, heritage and sport spending, skills, green jobs, net zero and health improvement.

All these are currently controlled by central government.

Unitary councils, which will supersede county and district councils, will cover all local services currently provided by Devon County Council, such as children's services, adult social care, special needs education provision and highways. The unitaries will also take on the roles currently fulfilled by the eight district councils, such as planning and development, waste collections and housing.

Devon’s current two tier system of county and district councils will cease to exist. 

Plymouth and Torbay are already unitary authorities and have been running all these services for some time. Their responsibilities and the way they gain funding for day-to-day services through council tax and central government funding is not expected to change - but their area of coverage may.

An elected mayor will head up the Devon and Cornwall strategic authority, if it happens, despite Cornwall's strong resistence.

In other areas of the country which already have elected mayors, they have had the power to call in planning decisions. At this stage it is not clear if they will have powers to do that for any other decisions.

Somerset is a unitary authority and so is Cornwall. The only difference they will see is a strategic authority sitting above them with devolved powers from government. Again, if it happens.

Cornwall is adamant that it does not want to be forced into a Devonwall arrangement, but there is also a strong possibility that the decision will be taken out of local hands later this year if the local authorities can't agree.

So far, Devon County Council is keeping its options open, although its Conservative leader James McInnes (Hatherleigh and Chagford) is in favour of creating a unitary council with Torbay. The eight districts, including Exeter, are very much against that arrangement.

Some councillors don't want to abolish themselves.

South Hams Liberal Democrat councillor John Birch told colleagues: “The government has sought to call an end to our existence, and Devon County Council is trying to bounce us into an early surrender.

“We do not want a Devon County Council Mark II, with increased responsibility which they will inevitably mess up. Why should we as a council be bounced into being subsumed into this morass of ineptitude?”

Torbay is calling for talks between itself, Devon, Plymouth and Cornwall about the so-called Devonwall arrangement to be led by an elected mayor, and Plymouth largely goes along with that while also seeking to expand its own reach into the South Hams.

If one single strategic authority is created across the two counties, the unitary authorities in Plymouth, Torbay and (possibly) Exeter could continue to operate beneath it.

Plymouth City Council’s Labour leader Tudor Evans said a south west strategic authority for Cornwall, Devon, Torbay and Plymouth would put them on a level playing field with the likes of Greater Manchester and the East Midlands. Last week, Dorset, Somerset and Wilthisre wrote to the government asking to be made into a strategic authority overseen by a mayor.

Such an arrangement across the south west peninsular would mean tDevon and Cornwall had a seat at the ‘top table’ for the first time. The south west has been overlooked and had not spoken with a single voice before.

However, Cornwall’s seemingly implacable opposition to Devonwall means the peninsula almost certainly won’t be in the first tranche of such strategic authorities.

All of this is leading to uncertainty over the future of hundreds of jobs in local councils, where economies of scale will inevitably lead to cuts.

Teignbridge Liberal Democrat councillor Suzanne Sanders said: “The unitary decision has been taken away from the public. It is a diktat.

“It is going to impact very much on the public because a unitary authority will be much further removed from our residents.”

Last week, Exeter's Labour MP Steve Race described district councils as "toast".

Despite its huge significance and potential impact on hundreds of jobs, the devolution debate is proving to be a hard sell for the government, with many councils in direct opposition and few members of the public even remotely interested in the process.

As Torbay Conservative councillor Hayley Tranter told a meeting the other night: “None of us bought a ticket for this ride. Our residents certainly didn’t.”