Exeter remains determined to press on with its bid to become an expanded city ‘super-council’ despite the government’s decision to pause its nationwide local authority overhaul.
Secretary of State Angela Rayner announced this week that the Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) programme was being put on ice after she had taken legal advice on it.
The proposals to sweep away an entire tier of local government and set up larger unitary authorities had been controversial from the outset.
In Devon it would, and still could, mean Labour-led Exeter and Plymouth expanding to absorb neighbouring parishes, and Conservative-led Torbay doing the same thing. The remainder of Devon would become a fourth unitary authority while all of the county’s current district councils would be abolished.
Critics of the change, including Devon County Council and all of Exeter’s neighbouring districts, have welcomed the pause in the process, and hope it could lead to a re-think or even the scrapping of the whole shake-up. Preparations have already cost each council around £1million.
But Exeter City council leader Phil Bialyk (Lab, Exwick) told a meeting of the full council that the decision to pause LGR was not an admission that the original decisions were wrong.
He said: “The government wants to pause and reflect following the Prime Minister’s recent promise to listen to the concerns raised by local people, but it remains committed to devolution.
“We remain fully confident that the proposal supported by all parties on this council and submitted jointly with our colleagues in Plymouth is the right proposal for Exeter and the rest of Devon.”
Cllr Bialyk said he saw no reason why the city’s submission should not be supported again following the review, and went on: “While I am slightly disappointed that Exeter’s long wait for unitary status could now be prolonged, possibly for another year, I understand that the new administration needs to be satisfied that the decision was the right one and that the correct process was followed.
“It is too good an opportunity to miss for Exeter and for all the residents and communities in Devon. We’re getting used to encountering bumps in the road, but we remain absolutely committed to this once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
Cllr Bialyk was backed by the city council’s Liberal Democrat group leader Michael Mitchell (Duryard and St James), who told him: “We wish the Exeter bid to continue and for Exeter to become the centre of the new unitary authority within Devon.
“We have every confidence in the bid that this authority put forward and the soundness of the arguments being put forward for Exeter.”
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