The effects of the unitary decision...

The decision of the boundary commision is due out at midday.

If Devon are chosen to run a county wide council (and DCC employees have been told the decision already if rumours are to be believed) would that impact on our tenancy at SJP?

If Exeter is chosen to run a "Greater Exeter" would that be better?

Lister

Lister said:

The decision of the boundary commision is due out at midday.

If Devon are chosen to run a county wide council (and DCC employees have been told the decision already if rumours are to be believed) would that impact on our tenancy at SJP?

If Exeter is chosen to run a "Greater Exeter" would that be better?

Lister

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Neither would be beneficial in terms of ECFC. Currently the city gets benefits from both ECC and DCC due to the importance of the City of Exeter. However, subsuming Exeter with e.g. East Devon would be massively against our interests as many (nearly all) of the East Devon cllrs couldn't give a monkeys t*ss about Exeter or more importantly ECFC. Similarly subsuming Exeter into a unitary Devon would see the city reduced to that of a parish council. Neither are good propositions in my eyes.

Surely if Exeter became part of East Devon, with the greater population and more Councillors, it would be more likely that East Devon would lose its identity (and say) becoming a bit of countryside to the east of Exeter. Of course how everyone readjusts to this may take quite a time. The enlarged authority would have to respect the fact that they have a League club to represent the area. ECFC as a BSP club wouldn't have the same clout at all, IMO.

The boundary committee will be recommending that a single unitary authority be created to encompass the existing boundary of devon. Torbay and Plymouth unitary authorities will remain in their current form with no boundary revisions.

The government also accepted a unitary proposal for Exeter last year, before deciding that because of the rest of Devon's inability to organise itself it had to look at things a second time.

The boundary commission has also said there is merit in a greater Exeter (to include Exmouth) option so all is not decided yet! I wouldn't put it past the muppets in Whitehall to change their minds again at some point!!

We'll now see 12 weeks of arguments in the press again, as each side puts it's arguments across to tries to influence the final recommendation which is put forward in December.

Let battle commence *-)

Lister said:

The government also accepted a unitary proposal for Exeter last year, before deciding that because of the rest of Devon's inability to organise itself it had to look at things a second time.

The boundary commission has also said there is merit in a greater Exeter (to include Exmouth) option so all is not decided yet! I wouldn't put it past the muppets in Whitehall to change their minds again at some point!!

We'll now see 12 weeks of arguments in the press again, as each side puts it's arguments across to tries to influence the final recommendation which is put forward in December.

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Surely that should read a 'Greater Exmouth to include Exeter'

Saint James said:

Neither would be beneficial in terms of ECFC. Currently the city gets benefits from both ECC and DCC due to the importance of the City of Exeter. However, subsuming Exeter with e.g. East Devon would be massively against our interests as many (nearly all) of the East Devon cllrs couldn't give a monkeys t*ss about Exeter or more importantly ECFC. Similarly subsuming Exeter into a unitary Devon would see the city reduced to that of a parish council. Neither are good propositions in my eyes.

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SJ,

I think we stand a better chance under the Greater Exeter idea, as it is not the whole of East Devon that would come under the new authorities control, just Exmouth (and presumably the bits inbetween), under option 2. If Devon take over the whole thing then we have to persuade Councillors from Totnes, Ilfracombe, Launceston, Ivybridge, Seaton and Honiton that SJP is not a £10million(+?) pot of money!!

Lister

Lister said:

SJ,

I think we stand a better chance under the Greater Exeter idea, as it is not the whole of East Devon that would come under the new authorities control, just Exmouth (and presumably the bits inbetween), under option 2. If Devon take over the whole thing then we have to persuade Councillors from Totnes, Ilfracombe, Launceston, Ivybridge, Seaton and Honiton that SJP is not a £10million(+?) pot of money!!

Lister

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List, I would agree to a certain extent that a greater Exeter with only Exmouth (and without Sidmouth et al) would be slightly better but then it's akin to saying would you like your whole hand cut off or just a finger or two! The addition of Exmouth councillors would still reduce the focus that an Exeter only authority has for the interests of Exeter alone. I'm also pretty certain that Exmouth Cllrs are no different to their colleagues in other parts of Devon in being parochial - namely only looking at their own geographical self-interest. It would be preferable to that of a unitary Devon however as the 'voice' of Exeter would be drowned out by the 'voice' of rural holsworthy, crediton, tiverton etc etc. We would be 'dooooomed' under this proposal!

Devon's political class and national government have failed us on this issue. Responses from local government have been highly parochial (among others particualy Exeter City Council), power hungry (among others Exeter City Council and Devon County Council) and unprincipled (DCC). Meanwhile central government has sought to centralise power and ignore local communities. This has been a wholly ugly episode.

The right solution for Devon’s local governance, which found the right balance between efficiency and accountability, was IMHO put forward by a minority Redcliffe-Maud report from the 1960’s. It proposed four unitary authorities be created in the County, based around the centres of Plymouth, Exeter, Torbay and Bideford/ Barnstaple. As far as I am concerned we have just lacked the politicians with the brains and the balls to enact their proposals ever since. It looks like the ball is really now going to be with the government...