Devon is apparently at the front of the pack for a Michael Gove-flavoured “double” devolution deal despite a competing bid led by Plymouth City Council (which wants to combine with the adjacent West Devon and South Hams district councils), next to no guidance on what is on offer from Whitehall, and even less public discussion about the prospect of local government changes across the county.
With options being discussed including the replacement of the two tier district/county authority system with a single tier and a directly elected Mayor, it’s about time County Hall came clean about its plans.
DLUHC’s “Levelling Up” white paper, postponed until January, is expected to announced Devon is in the first wave of deals.
For those being kept in the dark, which is most of us, the Institute for Government has published a useful county devolution deals explainer as well as a report examining the issues. PDF here.
