Devon MP warns rural ‘rump’ could be left behind by council changes
An MP has hit out at plans to create new unitary councils across Devon, warning that the proposed structure could leave its rural heartland struggling to compete for growth
The rural ‘rump’ of Devon left behind after the coming reorganisation of local councils may never be sustainable, according to one of the county’s MPs.
Speaking during a House of Commons debate titled ‘Rewiring the Nation’, she hit out at the Government’s plans for a full-scale nationwide Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).
If the current plans go through unaltered, Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay will all expand beyond their current boundaries, taking in areas of the district councils around them.
A fourth unitary council will mop up the rest of Devon, a huge area stretching from coast to coast, north to south, and from Cornwall in the west to Somerset and Dorset in the east.
Critics say it will simply be a ‘rump’ of parishes the urban areas do not want and will be left behind as a result.
During the debate, Ms Voaden warned: “It will create a two-tier Devon, leaving one area behind.
“It has carved out three urban growth areas and dumped together all the bits that are left behind in a vast rural local authority 100 miles from north to south, with a road network equivalent to that of Luxembourg, leaving communities divided with little chance of ever being sustainable.
“This rural local authority has no chance of the same growth opportunities that the other ones have.”
She said the move went against everything the Prime Minister believed about devolution being done from the ground up, with the consent of communities, rather than from the top down from Whitehall.
Pressure from Ms Voaden and fellow Devon MP Rebecca Smith, the Conservative MP for South West Devon, has led to Prime Minister Andy Burnham suggesting that he might reconsider some aspects of the massive changes.
Ms Smith said her constituents were ‘devastated’ by what the changes might mean. The two MPs worked together on petitions against the proposals, which gathered more than 6,000 signatures.
In response, First Secretary of State Louise Haigh said she would ensure that the concerns were heard.
The Communities Secretary will determine the next steps on LGR by the end of next month.