Concepts from Teignbridge District Council
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Devon Local Government Review Concepts from Teignbridge District Council Teignbridge D ISTRICT COUNCI L South Devon Teignbridge District Council Contents Page General principles 3 Getting to know Teignbridge - Key Facts 4 Maps that influence unitary concepts 7 Relevant information for existing Devon authorities 11 Overarching concept for Local Government Review 12 Concepts based on geographic areas 17 2 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council General principles In identifying potential concepts, we have had regard to the following principles. Guiding principles: 1. Strategic leadership 2. Community empowerment – local place shaping 3. Quality service delivery 4. Efficiency gains and value for money 5. Parish & town councils to be retained 6. Local decision making 7. Centrally-organised service delivery 8. Combined resources for housing delivery across the county 9. Standardisation and improvement of environmental issues such as waste and recycling collection 10. Shared ‘agencies’ and removal of duplication to ensure value for money 11. Promotion and inclusion for increased democratic engagement 12. Develop MAAs (Multi Area Agreements) to deliver any common, large scale/ 13. spatial priorities, such as economic development and infrastructure. These to 14. extend across county boundaries, where it is felt they would provide enhanced 15. services to local communities. 3 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council Getting to Know Teignbridge - Key Facts The Teignbridge District covers 260 square miles, which includes 98 square miles of Dartmoor National Park. The district is 22 miles long and 21 miles wide, with 22 miles of coastline including the Exe and Teign estuaries. • The mid-year 2006 Teignbridge population estimate is 125,500 • Teignbridge’s population is increasing year on year by between 0.5% and 1.1% compared with the UK average growth of 0.5% per year since 2001 • Teignbridge’s population from 2004 to 2029 is projected to increase by 22% from 123,900 to 151,400. This is significantly higher than the projected UK population increase of 12% projected between 2004 and 2031 • The population is ageing with number of people of retirement age projected to increase from 22% (in 2004) of the total population of Teignbridge to 31% by 2029. This is greater than the nationally projected increase from 16% (in 2004) to 23% (in 2031) of the UK population who will be over 65 • The numbers of all ethnic minority groups in the population are increasing. In 2001 they made up 1.0% of the Teignbridge population compared with 2.1% in 2004 • Teignbridge has 1,045 miles of road, which is 13% of the roads within the area maintained by Devon County Council and 72 miles of cycle ways • In 2004 Teignbridge had the highest road transport CO2 emissions in Devon, accounting for 17% of the total CO2 emissions by road 4 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council • In 2001 there were 66,000 cars and vans owned by households in the district, up from 49,000 in 1991. This reflects the rural nature of the district and the lack of frequent public transport in some areas • There is access to the rail network in 5 Teignbridge towns: Newton Abbot, Teignmouth, Dawlish, Dawlish Warren and Starcross • The employment rate in Teignbridge has increased by 9.2% from March 1999 to December 2006 and is now 83.6% which is above the rates for the South West (77.9%) and England (74.3%) • Conversely the unemployment rate has fallen over the same time period and was 1.2% (843 people) in April 2007 which is lower than the national rate of 2.5%. (These figures are based on the numbers claiming Job Seekers Allowance) • The number of unemployed 16-24yr olds as a % of the total unemployed has increased from 24% to 30% between 2000 and 2007 5 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council • Wage rates have increased to an average of £393.50 per week but are still below the average in the South West (£423.50) and Great Britain (£449.60) • In Teignbridge there were a total of 117,958 people living in 51,417 households in 2001 • Single person households account for 29% of total households. This is comparable with rates for Devon and England & Wales. • Over half (59%) of the single person households consist of one adult of pensionable age. This is significantly above levels for both Devon (52%) and England & alesW (48%). • Outside of London, access to home ownership is most problematic in the South West region, where average house price to household gross earned income ratios are 4.66 to 1. • There are currently 3389 households on the Register of Housing Need. • The total number of recorded offences in Teignbridge in early 2006 was just over half that of the average number in England and Wales at 13.4 compared with 24.9 offences per 1000 population • The number of disability living allowance claimants in the district has risen by 20.6% between 2002 and 2006 from 4320 to 5210 (and is now 4.2% of the total Teignbridge population compared with 4.5% in England) • 3,200 of the district’s children were living in benefit dependent households in 2007 • 14% of the district’s children lived in low income households in 2001 compared with 12% in South Hams & West Devon and 21% in England 6 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council Maps that influence unitary concepts 7 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council Travel to work patterns in Devon 8 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council 9 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council Travel to work patterns between housing sub markets 10 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council Relevant information for existing Devon authorities 2006 Area New Housing to 2026 Population (hectares) 2026 Projected (RSS EiP Panel Report) Population 1 Devon County 740,800 656,415 85,700 940,692 Including: East Devon District Council 131,100 81,440 17,100 171,456 Exeter City Council 119,600 4,703 12,000 147,920 Mid Devon District Council 74,500 91,293 7,400 91,964 North Devon District Council 91,500 108,590 10,900 117,224 South Hams District Council 83,200 88,651 11,800 111,048 Teignbridge District Council 125,500 67,387 10,400 150,044 Torridge District Council 64,200 98,387 10,700 89,452 West Devon Borough Council 51,200 115,964 4,400 61,584 Torbay Council 133,200 6,288 20,000 180,400 Plymouth City Council 248,100 7,978 24,500 305,920 Dartmoor National Park 33,500 2 95,311 1,000 3 34,360 1 based on 2006 population plus household growth indicated in SW RSS EiP Report at 2.36 people per household 2 2001 Census 3 included in Devon County Figure 11 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council Concepts for Local Government Review in Devon Parishes 1. Parish and Town Councils are essential. In any new unitary structure Town and Parish Councils will play a vital role. There is a strong tradition of such councils in most of Devon, outside Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay. 2. Some Town and Parish Councils have achieved Quality status but may feel they have benefited in only small ways from their progress. There has not, generally speaking, been a transfer of powers to the Quality Councils. 3. A number of Parish Councils are small and may lack the capacity to deal with larger issues or, for example, manage service provision locally if it were transferred. 4. It is possible to see a future with Town Councils undertaking more service delivery and enhancing their ‘relevance’ to the community. Parish Councils could cluster, maintaining their identity and membership, but working together to achieve capacity and delivering, within their cluster, a wider range of local services. 5. There is some evidence that Parishes are now ‘sharing’ Clerks because of recruitment difficulties or the perceived role of and remuneration for Clerks. 6. If unitary structures are to work in Devon, there needs to be a strengthening of Community Engagement and Empowerment. The loss of Parish and Town Councils would be a significant detriment to the community. 7. Strong, active and vibrant local councils are more likely to attract the interest of their communities, be seen to be more relevant and result in better community engagement and lead to greater interest in the work of such councils. 8. Some of the tasks now dealt with by district councils (for example, green spaces, pride in our parks, could be devolved to Town and clusters of Parish Councils. 9. Community engagement is often best done at a very local level. Parish and Town Councils can be an effective conduit for this work alongside other mechanisms for devolved decision making. 10. New unitary councils in Devon must have Parish/Town Councils Local Decision Making 1. Unitary local government in a large, mainly rural and sparsely populated county like Devon is likely to feel remote and detached from its customers. 2. This can be overcome through strong devolved decision making that is relevant to natural communities. Area Committees can be established, to deal with routine planning matters and other devolved decision making. 3. While some issues may be reserved for elected Members (planning for instance) there 12 10 April 2008 Teignbridge District Council is significant scope to include membership from local groups and businesses, voluntary and community sector. A model for this is the SEEP (Social, Economic and Environmental Partners) on the current Regional Assembly. 4. It is a model that could be adapted to enhance the work of local government in the county. 5. Through the involvements of SEEPs and other partners, it is possible to see that Local Strategic Partnerships, which may well need to be remodelled as a result of changes in councils, could be strengthened and enhance the representation of a variety of communities and interests – voluntary, business, agriculture, environment etc.