Dave Thomas: What local government shake-up means for you

Find out more about what local government reorganisation means for Torbay.

You will have no doubt seen in the news and read in this column as well about the recent ask by government to local authorities across the country about developing proposals for creating larger local authorities.

The government has now written to us formally, inviting us to work with other council leaders across Devon to develop a proposal for this Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).

Along with all councils across Devon, we have been requested to submit initial proposals that are non-binding to the government by the 21 March of this year. We will then receive feedback on these initial ideas to support us in creating and providing a full business case that has to be submitted by November this year.

I imagine many of you will have lots of questions about this subject and will want to understand what this means for Torbay and the impact it may have on the services we deliver for you. To help with everyone’s understanding, we are putting on an engagement event, which I hope will answer some of the early questions.

The free event is open to you, residents of the Bay, our community, and stakeholders. Senior officers from the council and I will do our best to explain what the government has asked. We will also cover some of Torbay’s potential options and what the timeline is that has been laid out by government. There will also be an opportunity for you to ask questions.

The event will be held on Tuesday 11 March, starting at 6pm at the Princess Theatre in Torquay. Doors will open at 5.30pm, and we anticipate the event to be finished by 8pm.

In order for us to gauge the number of people who will be attending and to let the theatre know, we are asking those who want to come along to register. This is a really easy process and similar to booking a ticket for the theatre. Please visit www.tickettailor.com/events/torbaycouncil, where you will find all our events. This event is called Public Meeting—Torbay Council and Local Government Reorganisation.

I do understand that not everyone has access to the internet and would still like to attend. This is not a problem! If you would like to reserve your spot, please call us on 01803 207001 and we can help you with that.

I also wanted to let you know about our next Residents Engagement Event, which is also happening the same week as this Local Government Reorganisation Engagement Event.

These are our bi-monthly Residents Engagement Events, and the one we held in Paignton in January focusing on our regeneration projects was really popular. In fact, we recorded that between us all we spoke to around 400 of you.

For the next Residents Engagement Event, we will be moving out of the town centre and heading up outside Sainsbury's at the Willows in Torquay. Put the date in your diary—Friday, 14th March. We will be there from 10am to 4pm.

The focus for this event is around what support is available to keep you healthy. There will be a range of services and organisations coming along to provide a wealth of advice, guidance, tips, and tricks.

It will include people there who can provide advice around managing your blood pressure, dental advice, and support with vaccinations. There will also be advice on quitting smoking and weight loss.

As always, a number of councillors and council officers will join me, as we will be on hand to answer any questions you have. We will also be asking for your thoughts and feedback on how you use the Council’s website and how we can improve this for you.

Finally, if you are unable to make the event on the Tuesday regarding local government reorganisation, you can always pop over and ask your question in a one-to-one environment.

I hope to see you at one or both of these events.