In 1974, the South Hams was given a two-tier system of local government to be provided by Devon County Council and South Hams District Council, and for the past 43 years it has been a partnership which has never worked effectively to the benefit of our communities.
In the case of planning decisions, which are the responsibility of SHDC, we have had a chaotic situation created not only by their failure to work in accordance with their own planning policies and legislative requirements, but also the failure of DCC to honour its responsibilities for ensuring that our region’s infrastructure improves in pace with the increase in housing which SHDC planners are approving.
Regarding both roads and parking, the failure of DCC and SHDC to produce any co-ordinated policy for improvements has resulted in Totnes having fewer parking places than it had 50 years ago, a situation which means both councils have been in breach of Section 122 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act ever since it came into force in 1984.
In 2012, DCC Highways was responsible for reintroducing a traffic reversal scheme in Totnes which had been previously trialled in the 1970s with catastrophic results.
The fact that it ran for three years this time, before being halted by the High Court which found it illegal, tells you everything you need to know about the competency of both DCC and SHDC to look after roads and parking.
A trip along the roads of the South Hams today will reveal poor road surfaces, worn and incorrect road markings, unsafe speed limits and poor signage, all of which are indicative of a highways department which is not doing its job properly.
What this brief summary of just some of the failures by both DCC and SHDC tells us quite conclusively, is that a two-tier system of local government which includes DCC as a partner will never work, most probably because it is far too big.
Given the above scenario, simple logic dictates that the only way forward from here is for the merger idea between SHDC and West Devon Borough Council to be abandoned because it offers no advantages to the South Hams communities.
Instead, we the communities of the South Hams, should insist to Government that the South Hams becomes an integral part of Torbay Council; which, just the same as DCC, has been a unitary authority since 1972, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined.
Torbay Council is a success story. True, it has had blips along the way but it has worked hard and got better and better.
Different from DCC and SHDC, it is working with the community and it is working in accordance with the legislation, directives and codes of practice issued by central government. Totnes, Dartmouth, Kingsbridge and Ivybridge will all benefit enormously from such a move because their councillors will learn how a unitary authority should really work.
Ross Newton
Ashprington, Totnes