South Hams council has agreed to put its hand in its pocked to the tune of £5,000 to join other councils in a legal challenge against the Devon unitary council proposals.
The figure palls into insignificance give that East Devon has spent at least £175,000 and Exeter has spent £650,000 already. But when we last asked about their Devon unitary spending back in July South Hams didn’t have a clue.
Those canny South Hams councillors included the proviso that there is some chance of a successful outcome if they do indeed dish out the dosh.
Deemed as too big, too remote and too expensive, the proposed unitary council will offer one tier of local government for the whole of Devon, apart from Torbay and Plymouth, doing away with district councils (which have already started sharing staff and services to cut costs).
And at least a supercouncil would get rid of the conflict of interest of District and County Councillors, as demonstrated by Cllr Roger Croad in Ivybridge.
While critics point to the spiraling costs of setting up Cornwall as a unitary council.
We’ll leave the last words to South Hams District Councillor Keith Baldry, who told thisisplymouth: “Many people feel that they may not think that the South Hams Council is the best thing since sliced bread, but they think it is better than unitary.”
• Who cares about District Councils?
East Devon council has led the fight against a unitary Devon council. While other authorities have been quietly carrying on with their work, East Devon council has taken it on themselves as being the cheerleader for the status quo, spending loads a money in the process – so far we just can’t figure out why.
The whole process of the slippery slide into proposals for a unitary council for Devon began when Exeter City Council (despite its name, a district council) pushed to become a unitary itself (like Plymouth or Torbay). The Boundary Committee said it was too small, and offered up a number ‘bigger’ solutions. Two years down the line, these have been whittled down to the single unitary Devon.
What are the benefits?
Shared services will offer economies, and also whole tiers of management will be done away with.
What are the drawbacks?
Cornwall went through the transition into a unitary council, and the costs spiraled to £20 million more than was estimated.
• What do you think about local councils in Devon? Comments below, please
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The great irony of this whole affair, is Exeter that started the whole thing off in order to get more power as a unitary, could end up as a parish council (like Truro City Council).
It will be interesting to see when the dust settles about this whole issue whether East Devon are ever asked for a full statement of the costs involved, as well as their general donation to the legal profession some of their own staff , such as Legal Services, have no doubt spent most of the last 12 months on this issue. There are also well over 100 projects set up by Devon County Council in anticipation of a Unitary Council which have doubtless incurred costs in staff time!!