‘Torbay first’ plea in council shake-up consultation

'We need to ensure that what we submit is right for Torbay'

People across Torbay are being urged to put the bay first as the countdown continues towards the biggest council shake-up for half a century.

Torbay Council is one of hundreds across the country currently consulting its residents on how they want the future of local services to look.

The government plans to sweep away an entire layer of local councils, and that will mean merging some and axing others entirely.

District councils around Devon have come out in favour of the so-called ‘1-4-5’ structure which would see Plymouth remaining as a standalone unitary authority. Four councils – South Hams, Teignbridge, West Devon and Torbay – would merge to form one authority covering the south of the county while the other five –  East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon, Torridge and Exeter – would form another.

But Exeter has designs on becoming a unitary authority on its own and Plymouth is seeking to expand its own boundaries into the South Hams.

Meanwhile, there is cross-party support in Torbay for the council and its boundaries to remain as they are while the rest of Devon re-organises.

The government initially said the population of the bay – around 140,000 – would be too small to sustain one of the new authorities, but it has since softened its stance.

Torbay Council recently launched a consultation with local people, saying that while it favours the ‘Torbay First’ standalone option, others are available.

These include the ‘four’ option in the 1-4-5 strategy as well as a new council following the boundaries of the local health trust, which would mean Torbay, around half of the South Hams and most of Teignbridge.

Torbay Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) said “The government has requested that we work with all the councils across Devon to develop proposals for a single tier of local government in the county.

“We need to ensure that what we submit is right for Torbay.”

He said it was vital that the bay was actively involved in the decision rather than simply being ‘done to’.

“We need to very much be a part of this conversation in order to influence the outcome,” he added. “Here in the bay we have achieved a lot and we are continuously looking at where we can improve. We don’t want to risk all our hard work being undone.

“We want to continue to deliver for our people and our place. We know we have challenges, but we have high aspirations.”

Opposition leader Cllr Swithin Long (Lib Dem, Barton with Watcombe) added: “Torbay First would ensure that our integrated health and social care services would remain, and we could concentrate on improving things like children’s services rather than staff having to be distracted by integrating them with other councils.

“Merging with other councils would result in higher council tax and worse services.”

Details on the consultation are on the council’s website, with paper copies in the bay’s libraries from July 4.