Having come back to live in the UK in Autumn 2022 after 20 years of living in Spain, I could not believe how Local Government had deteriorated in competence and efficiency while I had lived abroad. Within a few months I realised that Local Government had become unfit for purpose and reorganisation was sorely needed. 

I had been Town Councillor in the past and by the end of 2023, I had the opportunity to serve my local Community in Okehampton, as a Councillor, once again. On joining the Town Council I became aware of an important point. Our Town Council retains the competence and professionalism that it must have had before the last major reorganisation of Local Government in 1973. In any discussion about devolution and local government reorganisation, especially in Devon, it would be extremely stupid and counter intuitive to have a discussion process about reorganisation which does not intimately involve the parish councils for urban areas and competent village areas.

Yet, this is exactly what is happening!

It would appear that the existing Local Authorities consider they have the right to make decisions about our future based upon their own administrative arrangements and what suits them without going out to the Towns and Parishes to discuss the future with them.

It would appear that the plan that Torbay and the bulk of the Devon (without Plymouth) has died a death with the change of Government and their more radical plans for devolution and reorginasition.

The hastily considered plans of Devon County that were put to the Government in January of this year have, not surprisingly, been rejected by the Government. This has allowed the inappropriate and self aggrandising plans of the District Councils to come to the fore. 

In our case in Okehampton, a fundamentally incompetent District Council pairing of South Hams and West Devon have managed to persuade Teignbridge and Torbay to join them to put forward a proposal that they become one of the three Unitary Authorities in a revamped Devon.

As far as I am concerned, as a resident of Okehampton and a Town Councillor this is a wholely unacceptable proposal. Let us consider the geographical construct called Hinterlands. From a study of population dynamics, demographics, shopping and employment patterns, health care provision etc., every urban area has a pull on an area around it. 

If one considers that way of looking at things, then Devon takes on a completely different complexion. To demonstrate my point, consider the urban areas of Crediton, Tavistock, South Molton or Torrington. I venture to proposose that Crediton comes under the influence of Exeter, Tavistock looks towards Plymouth, South Molton looks towards Barnstaple and Torrington, towards Bideford. If you accept my way of looking at things, then what would be your answer for Okehampton? I propose that your answer would be Exeter.

This is not to make light of the independence of thought and action as expressed in the community spirit that these small urban areas possess.

None the less we cannot reverse 1973 as a serious proposal for local government reorganisation, we do need to move forward. If Tavistock wants to throw its lot in with a Torbay led Unitary Authority, that is their choice. If Newton Abbott feels it can hold its own in the same authority, that is their choice.

But Okehampton and Hatherleigh and other small urban centres north of Dartmoor, we do not belong to the Hinterland of Torbay. It is simply too far away and travel to the south side of Dartmoor is time consuming and difficult. While on the other hand the rail, bus and car links to Exeter are all significantly shorter and easier.

If the Central Government wants us to reorganise, it can also give us, Okehampton, the opportunity to decide if we must be attached to some large urban conglomeration then I would rather it be Exeter. 

In reality, I consider that the idea that Devon County had of moving towards one Unitary for the whole of Devon, apart from Plymouth, was in fact the right approach. Because such a conglomeration would have been easily seen to be unworkable in detail and practicality, it could be broken down into areas of practical management that are based on the ability of the Town or even City (in the case of Exeter) to manage itself.

For example for an area such as East Devon, sub-offices in Honiton, Axminster and Exmouth make sense. For Mid Devon, Crediton and Tiverton. In our area of West Devon, Dartmoor creates a logical and natural boundary. Thus the area south west of Dartmoor looks to Tavistock while the north-west looks to Okehampton.

We, the residents of Okehampton, should vociferously oppose the proposed arrangement that our District Council is trying to force on us. We should be combining with the Townsfolk of Hatherleigh to oppose the "1-5-4" scheme as the current proposal is called. We should be combining with the other Towns, Villages and City groups, to propose one Unitary Authority for Devon plus a significant degree of subsidiarity for Town and Parish councils which gives them democratic and practical responsibilities for services in their immediate areas.

As far as I am concerned it makes administrative sense and probably is far less costly to put all education provision in Devon back in the control of the County, the same is probably true for county wide health provision.

So what do I mean by subsidiarity and local control. For example let us consider Parking. In Okehampton, three different Authorities manage Parking - County, District and Town. Does anyone ever criticise the Town for not managing Parking properly and well? The answer is never. That suggests to me that the Town Council does a good job. So why can we not manage all the Parking in the Town? We have our own Property and Parks resources to worry about and I believe we manage them well. 

We have to show the same level of professionalism and knowledge making Planning recommendations as do District Councillors so why duplicate our efforts.

The list goes on ....

As far as I am concerned, if our District Councillors and the Council they stand for think they did us a good service a few weeks ago, then let me tell them, they did not. It needed far more radical consideration and their decision was hurried and short sighted. In May we have the opportunity to test my ideas at the Ballot Box.