Nick Bye: What is the best way forward for Torbay?

Who would have thought it Mr Editor: a couple of hundred residents if not crying their eyes out exactly then appearing to be very unhappy indeed at the thought of the end of Torbay Council when they got together at the Princess Theatre the other evening.

The occasion was the public consultation for local residents to consider the various options for local government reorganisation in Devon. This almost certainly will result in Torbay being subsumed into a much larger Unitary Council, perhaps even becoming a part of one Devon Unitary Council.

All credit to Torbay Council for arranging this event at short notice. It seems other places are making representations without any form of engagement. All credit also to Council Leader David Thomas and the Deputy Chief Executive for taking to the stage.

I have seen a number of double acts at the Princess over the years and this one deserves top marks for stamina even if unlikely to fill the theatre for a summer season.

The feedback from this gathering and elsewhere is to ask Government if we can stay the same as we are, please, as we believe we have a good story to tell, at least in recent years. Unfortunately this does not appear to be an option as the reorganisation of local government is intended to result in Unitary Councils, responsible for all services in the area they serve, with a minimum population of 500,000. Torbay's population is just under 140,000 making us one of the smallest Unitary Councils in the land.

The lion's share of the budget in a Unitary Council goes on providing statutory services to adults and children, ensuring they are safe and have the best chance to thrive. The challenge for Torbay is our population is one of the oldest in the UK as well as the poorest in the South West, creating enormous challenges, so it is to our credit we do so well. Our Children's Services are rated "Good" by Ofsted and our integrated model of delivery of social care (with health) is regarded nationally as good practice. 

But for all this many residents have a poor view of the Council and over the years progress on place issues has seemed to be of the two steps forward and one step back variety, at best. The fundamental issue for me, since we became a Unitary Council breaking away from Devon in 1998, is the Bay, like so many other seaside and coastal communities, has continued to decline, therefore residents will say their Council has been ineffective in tackling this decline.

Trying to make the case for change is difficult and some of those who accept the need for change have a somewhat nostalgic view of what the future might be.

"Stop this" and "save that" seem to be the battle cry with house building regarded as the devil's work even though so many people endure poor quality housing and we desperately need to boost the working age population if we are to have any chance of prosperity.

So what is the best way forward for Torbay?

Given the ultimate decision will be made by the Secretary of State in Westminster and not local leaders in the Town Hall, Torbay Council Leader David Thomas has allowed me to offer a personal view on this subject whilst still remaining a member of his Cabinet.

In order of options presented to residents I simply don't believe the first three tick enough boxes, indeed one (favoured) option doesn't tick any boxes at all.

The stay as we are option keeps us as a very small Unitary Council when the whole purpose is to create much larger ones to achieve economies of scale, capacity and resilience. Our boundaries are far too restricted to provide land for growth and the makeup of our population will be an increasing challenge over the years.

To extend our boundaries to cover the South Devon health area provides some room for growth and should enable us to continue our integration with health and social care. But it still leaves us a long way short of the required 500,000 population.

The option of combining with South Hams, Teignbridge & West Devon is the worst of all worlds, crossing boundaries with health (making integration impossible); still falling short of the required population, especially if Plymouth expands into South Hams; but more importantly lumping us together with rural areas with which we have nothing in common. Okehampton looks to Exeter, Tavistock to Plymouth. There's no sense putting them with Torbay and the South Devon towns.

The option which seems most attractive to me and  is the one I would guess we are likely to end up with is a single Unitary Council for Devon, excluding Plymouth and which would link us with the more prosperous areas of Exeter and East Devon (Teignbridge likewise) with the economies of scale to carry the poorer and more sparsely populated areas. 

There would be an opportunity for a new single vision for Devon, obvious places for house building and growth (whilst protecting our most precious coastal landscapes) and the whole county linked with the economic powerhouse and university city "up the road".

No other proposals make sense or come near to what the Government wants to see happen.