Issue - meetings

To receive the report of the Chief Executive.

The Leader moved the recommendations of the report, seconded by Councillor Wright, and invited the Chief Executive to present the report.  

The Chief Executive highlighted the following points in presenting the report: 

The Minister of State for Local Government and Homelessness had invited Council Leaders in areas undergoing Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) to set out their views on whether postponing the May 2026 local elections would better support the delivery of LGR. The deadline for the Leader to respond was midnight on Thursday, 15 January. The letter from the Minister of State could be found in Appendix A.  

The purpose of the report was to enable an informed discussion on whether postponing the elections would release capacity to deliver LGR effectively.  

The report recommended firstly, that Council notes the letter from the Minister of State and considers its implications and secondly, having heard Members’ views, the Leader was asked to respond by 15 January, on whether or not to request the postponement of the May 2026 elections. 

The Chief Executive clarified that there was no decision being made locally on elections as that was not within the powers of this Council. Only government could make that decision, should they be minded to do so under Section 87 of the Local Government Act 2000, which gave the Secretary of State the authority to change the electoral cycle through secondary legislation. There was precedent on postponing elections during LGR which had taken place previously. 

There were three reasons identified in the report for considering postponing the elections scheduled for 7 May:  

1. councillors elected would serve only two years before their roles were abolished under the new unitary structure as opposed to the usual term of four years;  

2. the Government’s statutory consultation on LGR at the start of February may coincide with the pre-election period, limiting meaningful engagement with residents. If the start of the consultation was delayed, which had happened with other timescales on LGR, the Government’s seven-week consultation period could coincide with the pre-election period.  

3. Postponement would release approximately £265,000 of resources, both financial and staffing, to focus on critical transition work including governance, service design budgets, workforce changes, and technology. There may also need to be work done, dependent on the Government’s decision on the structure of local government in Devon, to prepare for Shadow Elections in 2027. This needed to be balanced against the risks of postponing elections:  

·         Residents may feel disenfranchised if elections were postponed. 

·         Some councillors may choose to resign rather than extend their term. This would require by-elections to be held which would lead to some costs and workload.  

Members were assured that work had already started on preparing for local elections and this would continue until the Government confirmed their position.  

Venues had been booked and recruitment to the 450 roles required to deliver the election would start in the next few weeks. The cost to deliver local elections was around £265,000 excluding any payments already made.  

In terms of work required to deliver LGR,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 128