IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR OUR READERS
REGARDING COUNCIL UNITARY STATUS
COURTESY OF COUNCILLOR DES BRAILEY
One of the most important decisions for North Devon has just been taken by the boundary committee without reference to residents of North Devon.
At the beginning of 2008 we were requested to place a bid on the table or have Unitary status thrust upon us. Although we placed our bid before the boundary committee this would not have been done in isolation.
North Devon Council along with, Mid Devon, East Devon, South Hams, West Devon, Torbay, and now even Exeter are calling for the Status quo. In other words for the authorities to remain as at present, with closure working between Districts. This will enable delivery of services at a local level and maintains democracy that is closer to the people.
The rather large Devon Unitary is very unwieldy and would not offer good democracy to the people of NorthDevon.
The people of North Devon and Torridge have said a resounding NO to the Boundary Committee’s proposal for a unitary council covering the whole of Devon.
North Devon Council commissioned an independent market research company to carry out a phone poll of residents across both districts to see what they thought of the idea.
Overall, 88% of those asked said they would prefer decisions about northern Devon to be made at a local level and not by a Devon-wide council based in Exeter.
Views were spread fairly equally across both districts with 89% against the proposal in North Devon and 86% in Torridge.
The poll was carried out by Marketing Means based in Ashburton who are a highly reputable, leading market research firm.
Leader of North Devon Council Cllr Mike Harrison says: “We commissioned this poll because the Boundary Committee are making very little effort to find out how local people feel about their proposal.
Because we speak on behalf of local residents, we wanted to be sure that we were doing the right thing in fighting this disastrous proposal.
As we suspected, the vast majority of people in Torridge and North Devon do not want to be governed by a gigantic, bureaucratic and extremely distant organisation. They want local decisions made by a local council and that is what we will continue to fight for.”
The results of the poll are statistically valid meaning they are a true representation of what people are feeling across the area. They will be submitted to the Boundary Committee as evidence of a lack of support for their proposal in northern Devon. Public consultation on the proposal ends on September 26th.
For more information contact:
Cllr Mike Harrison
Leader
North Devon Council
01271 388252
michael.harrison@borthdevon.gov.uk
Cllr Malcolm Prowse
Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group
North Devon Council
01598 710533/07721 563383
malcolm.prowse@northdevon.gov.uk
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