Outgoing leader John Hart confirms he won’t seek re-election in 2025

Devon’s outgoing leader John Hart has confirmed he will not be standing for re-election in 2025.

Councillor Hart has led the Conservatives in Devon since 2007, and announced this month that he would be stepping down as leader imminently.
But it was unclear after the announcement how long he would remain a councillor for.
During a full council debate on devolution, where Devon and Torbay would combine to create a combined county authority, or CCA, Cllr Hart said he would not contest his Bickleigh & Wembury seat at next year’s local elections.
“This is the last time I address the council as leader,” he told the full council meeting.
“I have done 15 years and I have a wife who would like to see me more frequently,” adding as a quip that more recently “she wasn’t so sure”.
He continued: “Age is catching up with me and that’s the reason I am stopping, no other.
“It has reached a stage where it is right to pass the leadership on to someone younger.”
Addressing the council’s members at the start of the debate over devolution, he added that he hoped his “final act” would be supported.
“In my 15 years, we’ve gone through recession, covid, the post-covid period, and now we are in a position to change Devon [County Council] for the first time in its life, and I hope you consider voting for [devolution],” he said.
Cllr Hart added that he believed the creation of a CCA would give Devon a louder voice with the government and civil servants, potentially leading to it securing more funding and more responsibility as time went on.
“I think it is good for Devon, and have always said that it is something we need as we have to be closer to the action, closer to what’s going on,” he said.
He added he expected central government to be “spreading the load” to councils, noting that more than 60 per cent of people were now living in local authorities that had devolution deals with centralgovernment.
During the debate, Liberal Democrat, Labour and Independent councillors raised concerns about the proposals.
These included whether councils would end up with greater bureaucracy rather than devolution, whether district councils would have a say in decisions put in front of the CCA, and whether Torbay would disproportionately benefit from the deal.
Torbay’s full council meeting will debate whether to approve the devolution process on Tuesday [30 April].