COUNCIL tax bills are something that virtually all residents pay attention to, but their focus on the levy could become even keener amid Devon’s prospective overhaul.

With four new councils set to be created in two years’ time, scrutiny is already turning to whether council tax rates could rise as a result.

There are claims that urban residents could see their rates rise; that’s because of the view that by taking on neighbouring parishes, applying a simple average could lead to an increase for city folk.

And for rural residents, there are fears that a massive new “coast and country” council will have no choice but to charge higher rates to sustain itself.

Looking at the existing rates of council tax across Devon’s current councils, the scale of any changes in some areas might not be as significant as some predict, while other areas may be under more pressure.

But even if rises in some locations look muted based on existing council tax data, that could be outweighed by the cost of the extra responsibilities the new councils will be taking on, as well as efforts to recoup the costs of the compulsory reorganisation.

The government has approved an overhaul of local government in Devon that will see Exeter expand into three of its neighbouring district councils – East Devon District Council, Mid Devon District Council and Teignbridge District Council – to become a notional Greater Exeter council.

Meanwhile, Plymouth will nab 13 parishes from South Hams District Council to become Greater Plymouth, and new amplified Torbay will be bolstered by taking on parts of Teignbridge and the South Hams.

The rest of Devon will become a so-called coast and country authority.

Crediton, Crediton Hamlets, Newton St Cyres, Colebrooke, Hittisleigh and Cheriton Bishop will become part of the expanded Exeter council, while other local areas such as Sandford, Copplestone and Lapford will join the coast and country council.

The expanded Exeter council is taking on five of the top 10 most expensive parishes in terms of council tax levels.

However, the current Exeter City Council charge is already higher than every East Devon parish with the exception of Cranbrook. Exeter’s Band D is £2,495 with Cranbrook charging £2,512.

That could mean that any rise in the new Greater Exeter council could actually be more keenly felt by the former East Devon residents.

Similarly, while Greater Exeter is set to take on Mid Devon’s most expensive parish – Crediton – that town’s rate is lower - at £2,438 – than Exonians already pay.

The complicating factor for this new council, however, is that Exeter City Council does not currently oversee adults and children’s social services, highways, or education, and so the new authority will need to have the resources to deal with these complicated and expensive services.

For the giant “coast and country” council, things are less clear. While it will have a bigger population than any of the other three new unitary councils, its footprint will be vast.