People asked to share views on how Devon is run

People in Devon will get the chance to have their say on how the county should be run and whether areas like Plymouth and Exeter should be expanded.

All of the district councils and the county council are being abolished and unitary councils in Plymouth and Torbay are also facing major changes as part of a national shake-up.

The local authorities look after a wide range of services from waste and recycling to providing housing.

The existing authorities have come up with various plans for how they would like to carve up the county and the government is now asking the public for their views on what would work best.

These are the biggest changes to local government in more than 50 years.

The government says it wants to simplify the way things are set up and make local government the same across the country so that everyone knows who is responsible for services like fixing potholes or caring for the elderly.

Crucially, the government has also said it wants new unitary authorities to be roughly the same size in terms of population.

At the moment services are split between district councils and the county council but under the reorganisation the former local authorities woluld be replaced by unitary authorities providing all the services.

There are currently eight district councils - including Exeter City Council - in Devon along with Devon County Council while Plymouth and Torbay are already unitary authorities.

There are five plans on the table for Devon.

Devon County Council wants to keep the boundaries as they are with a new One Devon authority for the area currently covered by Devon County Council and Plymouth and Torbay remaining as they are now.

Plymouth and Exeter are backing the same plan. But Plymouth also wants to expand to take in parts of Dartmoor and the South Hams while Exeter wants to become a unitary authority and expand to take in towns like Exmouth, Crediton and Dawlish.

Under the Plymouth and Exeter plan, Torbay would also expand to the north and the rest of Devon would be a separate coastal and rural authority.

Torbay supports a similar plan for the expansion of Plymouth and Exeter but wants to keep its own boundaries as they are.

The district councils - with the exception of Exeter - have come up with what is known as the 4-5-1 plan for three unitary authorities with a slight difference between two plans.

The 4-5-1 plan would bring together Torbay, South Hams, West Devon and Teignbridge as the four, Torridge, North Devon, East Devon, Mid Devon and Exeter as the five and Plymouth as the one.

South Hams, Teignbridge and West Devon do not want to see Plymouth expand but Torridge, North Devon, East Devon and Mid Devon are backing an expanded Plymouth.

The public consultation will run until 25 March with people asked a series of questions about how they would like to see local government reorganised.

Local elections will still take place in Plymouth in May but elections due to take place in Exeter have been cancelled.

There will be elections held in May 2027 for the new unitary authorities with the people elected operating in a "shadow" capacity until April 2028 when the new authorities officially take control.

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