Flared tempers led to a meeting about Devon’s efforts to try and secure a mayor being abruptly adjourned.
Frustration boiled over at a committee aimed at working out the best and fastest way for the county to secure the formal status of a mayoral strategic authority.
A recording of the meeting on YouTube shows the board’s chair, Councillor David Thomas (Conservative, Preston), the leader of Torbay Council, attempting to interject between a back and forth between two other members.
Cllr Thomas increasingly loudly yells “Councillor Arnott” three times in a bid to get the East Devon District Council leader, Councillor Paul Arnott (Liberal Democrat, Coly Valley) to stop speaking, and shortly after declares the meeting adjourned.
When the board returned, Cllr Arnott apologised that he had “pushed the boundaries too far”.
The friction in the room emerged as Cllr Arnott claimed that Plymouth was “doing all it can to prevent mayoral elections next May”, and that he was getting tired of the “tail wagging the dog”.
“The resolution set out here is going to be completely unacceptable to me if there is more inertia built in,” he said.
He and Councillor Phil Bialyk (Labour, Exwick), the leader of Exeter City Council, had traded comments about the process of securing a mayor, with Cllr Arnott claiming Plymouth was trying to ensure the timeframe for securing a mayor benefitted it ahead of others, while Cllr Bialyk suggested that efforts could be made for extra cash even without formally having a mayoralty.
The majority of Devon’s politicians acknowledge that having a mayor could be beneficial for the county, because such an office can help attract additional government cash for major projects, such as housing and transport.
The head-to-head happened at the board meeting of the Devon & Torbay Combined County Authority (DTCCA), which is a version of a mayoral authority but without a mayor.
Its members want to alter its constitution so that the county actually has a mayor.
But anger emerged at the board meeting over the belief Plymouth was potentially in a position of power to slow the process down.
Plymouth is not a member of the DTCCA, and while it is currently discussing joining, some at this week’s committee meeting argued efforts should be made to secure a mayor as soon as possible without waiting to see what Plymouth decided to do.
Officers did stress that it may be possible to secure extra funding even before a mayor was actually in place, and gave examples where this had happened in other areas of England.
However, Cllr Arnott felt strongly that the board’s resolution to set a “clear route map to progress, at pace, towards mayoral strategic authority status across the Devon and Torbay geography”, should include the date of May 2027.
He said he wanted this date to encourage Plymouth to join the DTCCA as soon as possible.
In spite of the argument and adjournment, his proposed amendment of adding in that a mayoral authority should preferably be secured by May 2027 was passed.
In July, Plymouth City Council’s cabinet agreed a decision to develop a proposal to allow it to join the DTCCA, something which will now go to its full council meeting for ratification.
The cabinet agreed that remaining outside the DTCCA would “leave Plymouth outside the powers and funding of the strategic authority and expose the city to being left behind as the national framework deepens”.
The notion of securing its own mayor was also rejected.
In an ideal world, Plymouth would prefer a South West Peninsula mayoral strategic authority, however, there has been little shared ambition between Devon and Cornwall to have one mayor overseeing the two counties.
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