Decision

That Cabinet recommend
to Full Council;
 

1.    that the proposal for
local government reorganisation in Devon as set out in Appendix 1
to the submitted report be approved for submission to
Government.
 

2.    that the Chief Executive
be authorised to make any further amendments deemed necessary to
the proposal and submit the proposal to the Government by the
deadline of 28 November 2025.

Reasons for the decision

Development of a
proposal has been required because the Government’s statutory
invitation included Torbay.  Whilst the
Council could opt not to submit a proposal, other areas would
include Torbay within their proposal. To ensure that the needs and
wishes of Torbay’s residents, businesses and other
stakeholders were represented it was important that the Council
submit an LGR proposal to Government.

Alternative options considered

To reach the proposal,
an options appraisal was conducted.  A
wide range of unitary configurations were explored in extensive
dialogue with the other Devon authorities. 
 
Ultimately for Torbay
these were progressively focused down to the following options for
full appraisal:
 
Option 1. Two unitary
councils (Devon and Plymouth).
 
Option 2. Three
unitary councils with two variants:

 

Option 2.1. Three unitary councils (the 4-5-1 Model)

 

Option 2.2. Three unitary councils (Devon, Plymouth and Torbay)

 
Option 3. Four unitary
councils with two variants:

 

Option 3.1: Torbay on existing boundaries, an expanded Plymouth and
new Greater Exeter and Rural Devon Coast and Countryside
authorities.

 

Option 3.2. An expanded Torbay and an expanded Plymouth and new
Greater Exeter and Rural Devon Coast and Countryside
authorities.

 
Through both a
financial appraisal and a qualitative assessment of strengths and
weaknesses, each option was scored against the six LGR criteria
that have been set by the Government to evaluate all of the options.
 
Option 3.1 received
the strongest score.  Having been
considered in its early stages by the Overview and Scrutiny
Board’s task-and-finish group, the full appraisal was
reviewed by the task-and-finish group on 27 October 2025 with a
recommendation made to the Overview and Scrutiny Board to recommend
approval of option 3.1.  On 5 November
2025, the Overview and Scrutiny Board considered the report from
the task-and-finish group.  Whilst the
Board noted the work of the task-and-finish Group, the Board
resolved that as a result of continued
emerging information from neighbouring authorities, it would not
make a recommendation through to Cabinet nor Council.
 
In
the event that Full Council determined to support an
alternative proposal than that set out at Appendix 1 to the
submitted report, there would not be sufficient time to evaluate
all of the evidence that sat behind the
proposals of other authorities. 
Therefore, submission of a letter to Government was the only viable
alternative in the event that the
proposal at Appendix 1 was not approved.