A PROPOSAL for the creation of a single council for West Devon and South Hams passed the first hurdle at a committee meeting on Tuesday with a unanimous vote in favour of the plan.

Last week it was announced that a plan to create one single new council to save costs was being put to all councillors from West Devon Borough Council and South Hams District Council — and on Tuesday members of West Devon Borough Council’s hub committee passionately discussed the impact this would have on local residents in the area.

Recommendations to agree, in principle, the proposal of a single second-tier council, followed by a consultation with the public and stakeholders from early August to September, with a follow up full council meeting in October to either approve or reject the proposal, were passed by the committee.

West Devon and South Hams have been facing financial pressures due to the phasing out of the money they used to receive from the Government.

The reduction in government funding (revenue support grant and the council’s share of business rates) has been dramatically reduced by £3-million in West Devon and £4-million in South Hams since 2009/2010.

However, through sharing services since 2007, the councils are currently saving £6-million a year. Despite this the councils are still facing a combined budget gap of £1.9-million each year after 2020, due to futher government cuts.

Councillors recognised that there would be concerns from the public and were advised to make a decision that ‘will best represent the people’.

Leader of West Devon Borough Council Cllr Philip Sanders said: ‘As a member of the council we will have to make a decision as to what we think is best in the short, medium or long term to represent the people who elected us — there is not a simple answer or a simple solution. 

‘It is by no means a simple process but at the moment the view of the officers is that it’s the right advice to give to members.’

Deputy leader of West Devon Borough Council Cllr Lois Samuel said: ‘£1.1-million is a lot of money to find and the “wait and see” approach is not an option — we need to be pro-active and get all members involved.’

If plans for the single council are approved all staff employed by West Devon and South Hams would transfer to the new council from day one. There would be a reduction of less than ten posts across the whole organisation through ‘natural turnover’ instead of redundancy. There has been no details released as to whether the council offices will move from Tavistock.

The recommendations approved by the hub committee will now go forward to full council at West Devon on Tuesday, July 25. South Hams District Council were due to discuss the the issues at its executive meeting today (Thursday).