DEVON County Council's "New Devon" proposal would see the county council and eight districts merged to create a new unitary council.

IT is hardly a ringing endorsement of its own proposal for Devon [County Council] to describe it as the "least-worst option" – but I do agree that it is a bad option.

Devon is one of the largest counties in England, made up of diverse city, coastal and rural communities.

The new unitary council proposed by Devon County Council would be far too large to be effective.

It would be the largest council in the country by area and would be too distant and remote to be able to reflect the needs and priorities of many residents and communities.

It would just deliver more of what our residents already receive, rather than offering an agile path to better, more preventative, locally responsive public services.

Compared with smaller unitaries more aligned to local communities, a single unitary would reduce accountability, create a democratic deficit and reduce the ability to respond to the diverse needs of local areas in an effective way.

The proposals that the eight district councils and two unitary councils in Devon are working on have differences in detail.

But they are all based on creating new unitary councils that are big enough to deliver and close enough to residents and communities to reflect local needs, priorities, ambitions and opportunities in the years ahead and built to deliver sustainable services for the long term.

Cllr Phil Bialyk

Leader

Exeter City Council