Deadlock over Torbay’s future in local councils shake-up

Torbay’s choice on the future make-up of its local council remains uncertain after an influential committee reached deadlock over the issue.

Five Conservative members of Torbay Council’s overview and scrutiny committee voted to back their administration’s wish for the bay’s boundaries to stay as they are in the forthcoming nationwide local government shake-up.

A stand-alone Torbay is the preferred option of the majority of local people who took part in public consultations earlier this year.

But five Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors voted to pass decision-making duties to a cabinet meeting later this month, saying there was still too much uncertainty over what the rest of Devon wanted.

“It’s a very fast moving situation, and it could move again,” said Cllr Mike Fox (Lib Dem, Barton with Watcombe).

The chairman of the committee, Liberal Democrat Swithin Long (Barton with Watcombe) had to use his casting vote to hand responsibility for the decision on to the cabinet, which meets on November 18. The final, binding decision will be made by the full council on November 20.

The Conservatives voted for a motion which supported so-called ‘Option 3.1’ in the government-driven shake-up which will see the nation’s council structures completely overhauled over the next two years.

The aim is to do away with a layer of local bureaucracy completely, with the abolition of district and county councils in favour of large unitary authorities. Torbay is already a unitary authority, albeit a small one.

Option 3.1 comprises Torbay Council within its existing boundaries, alongside an expanded Plymouth City Council swallowing up parts of the South Hams and two new unitary councils covering Greater Exeter and Devon. The ‘Greater Exeter’ council would eat into parts of the existing Teignbridge, East Devon and Mid Devon.

Submissions have to be in by the end of November, and the government is likely to announce its final strategy next summer.

“These are once-in-a-generation changes,” said Cllr Darren Cowell (Ind, Shiphay). “It is absolutely essential that we make sure Torbay comes first.”

But, he said, there was a lack of clarity around the choices being made by other Devon authorities, some of whom propose enlarging Torbay’s boundaries alongside their own expansions.

Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) said the council had reached ‘the last throw of the dice’ on an issue it had been debating for more than a year, and Cllr Steve Bryant (Con, St Peters with St Marys) urged the committee to make a decision.

He said keeping Torbay’s boundaries intact was ‘something the residents bought into, and something we all agree with’.

“This is our only real chance to do anything about it,” he said.

But, argued Cllr Cowell: “I am absolutely passionate about Torbay, and I want to make sure we get this right.”