Today at midnight the Government’s consultation on Local Government Reorganisation will close. The Government is seeking views on proposals that will see the end of district councils like Torridge and North Devon, as well as Devon County Council. Instead of two tiers of local government, with a different council responsible for collecting the rubbish from the one that fixes potholes, from 2028 a new unitary authority will handle everything. Five different options for re-structuring Devon have been put forward, and the consultation is about which one is preferable. Do we want to go in with Exeter, or with a bigger ‘coast and countryside’ council covering all of Devon minus Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay? 

The term ‘unitary’ authority is a bit misleading because town and parish councils will remain. In other areas of the country, local government reform has seen an expansion of the lowest level of local government, as towns and parishes take on responsibilities for assets formerly run by district or county councils. 

This is where heritage comes in. There may be a range of community and heritage assets, currently owned and managed by district and county councils, which towns or parishes could potentially take over. In North Devon, the council has asked town and parish councils which assets they would like transferring to them and has received 81 expressions of interest. Torridge has not gone down this route, but Bideford Town Council has already identified assets like Victoria Park, the Town Hall, and the Pannier Market which they would like transferring to them. 

Although we don’t yet know what shape the new unitary authorities will take, there is a strong argument for keeping such assets as close as possible to the communities they serve, managed by people with local knowledge and understanding of their areas. It is easy to see how any new authority would be too large and too distant to manage them in the interests of local people – hence the proposal to create a Trust Port.

Any asset worth over £100,000 would need government approval. However, some of our most precious assets are in fact liabilities – they cost money to run. Transferring them to town or parish councils would require extra staffing and expertise and might mean that their precepts – the money collected for them from residents through Council Tax – would have to rise.

There are still many unanswered questions about what the future of local government means in Devon.