Councils shake-up ‘could hit vital services’

Fears have been raised that Torbay’s acclaimed social care services could be a casualty of the forthcoming local council shake-up.

Fears have been raised that Torbay’s acclaimed social care services could be a casualty of the forthcoming local council shake-up.
The government plans to change the way local authorities are run and says streamlined ‘unitary’ councils covering larger areas will save money and make the system more efficient.
The shake-up means district councils such as Teignbridge and South Hams will be scrapped. Torbay is already a unitary authority, but will have to spread its wings to cover a much wider area if it is to meet the government’s target of around 500,000 residents for each of the new unitaries.
Torbay Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) recently said Torbay in its current form could be wiped off the map as part of a wider Devon authority.
Now the bay’s opposition councillors have voiced fears for the effects of the shake-up.
In a letter to Jim McMahon, the local government minister, Liberal Democrat group leader Swithin Long (Barton with Watciombe) and deputy leader Cordelia Law (Tormohun) outlined their concerns.
They say Torbay’s integrated health and social care arrangements are seen as a great success from which other parts of the country are learning. Torbay was named the most improved council of the year by the Local Government Chronicle in 2023 thanks to its stable children’s services and adult social care.
Their letter goes on: “There are real concerns that any move to make Torbay part of a larger unitary will see the end of the Integrated health and social care arrangement. A larger unitary would thus result in worse services.”
The two councillors say services provided by neighbouring district councils are rated worse than Torbay’s. They add: “In light of this we strongly feel that Torbay Council should stay in its current form, and should not be facilitated into a larger unitary, as this could lead to worsening services and a detrimental impact on our residents.”
Councillors and officers all over Devon are currently in talks over how the county should look after the shake-up. Mr McMahon has asked them to come up with proposals by Friday 21 March, although Devon will not be in the first ‘wave’ of counties to be re-organised.
Torbay’s opposition councillors also fear the bay will lose out in the second strand of re-organisation, the creation of larger strategic authorities to oversee the work of the new unitaries, each led by an elected mayor.
Cornwall has already said it does not want to be part of a combined ‘Devonwall’, and there are fears that a Devon-only authority would be too small to make its voice heard in competition with larger regions for funds.
The Lib Dems’ letter goes on: “We, representing 50 per cent of Torbay Council’s elected representatives, do not support the current proposal. We have had conversations with Somerset and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council leaders who would not be averse to discussions around a ‘Greater South West’ combined authority which would be truly strategic and be able to compete with others.”
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, a single local council run by the Lib Dems, agreed last month to join forces with Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset councils in a strategic authority oveseen by an elected mayor called Heart of Wessex.