A NEW bid to merge Torridge District Council and North Devon Council into one Northern Devon unitary authority under local government reorganisation (LGR) is to be discussed at a special meeting on Monday night.

Pioneered by Cllr Huw Thomas (Green, Bideford East) the extraordinary meeting of Torridge District Council has been called with the support of leaders of the Conservative, Green, Lib Dem and Non Aligned groups.

Cllr Thomas said the council should “not just sit back” during the current paused LGR process while the “unworkable” large Devon Council remains on the table.

The government’s LGR plans for Devon as currently proposed would see Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay all expanding with the rest of Devon in a council that would stretch from Hartland to Salcombe and Combe Martin to Axminster with a road network described as “the size of Luxembourg”.

But the reorganisation plans have been put on hold to make sure they are “robust” after legal advice suggested they might not comply with the law.

Devon County Council was one of a number of authorities across the county considering a judicial review amid concerns about the impact of the plans on communities which just 20 per cent of people who took part in a public consultation supported.

Under the shake up the county’s 11 councils of differing types will be abolished and new unitary authorities responsible for all local services will take their place.

A Northern Devon unitary council idea was mooted in the early stages of the process when each of Devon’s council had to put forward their own proposals for the future of local government but was shelved in favour of the 1-5-4 plan supported by all the other districts accept Exeter, dividing the county into North/East and South sections with Plymouth as a standalone authority. This however was rejected by ministers.

Officers at the time said a Northern Devon proposal would be too costly to pursue given that it did not meet the government’s criteria for size.

Cllr Thomas said: “Given the government completely ignored its own guidelines on size and boundaries, I think it’s worth going back to them. We should not just sit back, we should be telling them what we want.

“Torridge has just been dumped into a what’s left over authority that is completely unworkable.”

The councillor will be asking members to support an alternative plan that keeps the four proposed councils but adjusts their area, with the southern three expanded and the large Devon council reduced to focus on the more cohesive combination of North Devon and Torridge District Councils.

He said this also followed the NHS division of Devon into four Local Care Partnerships (LCPs). The respective urban centres would be Barnstaple/Bideford (North), Exeter (East), Torbay (South) and Plymouth (West).

“If members support my proposal, I am recommending that we work with North Devon Council to lobby the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to accept this merger as part of any local government reorganisation of Devon,” he said.

Support will also be sought from Torridge and Tavistock Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Cox and the public who will be asked to sign a petition, if the move is agreed on Monday.

The meeting begins at 7pm at Caddsdown Business Support Centre in Bideford.

Alison Stephenson

LDRS