Charlotte praises Devon Lib Dem team following government pause in Local Government Reorganisation programme

Councillor and prospective parliamentary candidate for Exmouth & Exeter East, Charlotte FitzGerald, has expressed pride in the work of her Liberal Democrat colleagues for prioritising children’s safety and securing a pause from Angela Rayner in her party's “runaway local government reorganisation project.”

 “Finally, Andy Burnham has seen sense where Steve Reed and previously Rayner did not.” Says Cllr FitzGerald.

 “As Liberal Democrat led council teams, we were desperately worried about pressures on children’s services in particular from the proposed ‘rest of Devon’ arrangement, which would have thrown most of rural Devon into a perilous situation from the start, with an underfunded unitary administration,” she continues, citing the work of county leader Julian Brazil and District council leader Paul Arnott, alongside Cllr Richard Jeffries as Head of Childrens Services at Devon County Council.

 “My Lib Dem colleagues have approached negations with a relentless focus on the lack of consideration for equalities made by government in its decision to carve out rural areas from the economic hubs of Exeter and Plymouth, which went against everyting our party stands for.”

Whilst acknowledging the relief felt by the team, Charlotte remains concerned that councils will not be recompensed for the administrative expenditure so far. "Millions of pounds of taxpayer money has been spent already on this botched plan,” said Charlotte, adding, “but this isn’t the end of reorganisation, and we need to take the opportunity to forge a good plan that works for all Devon postcodes - rural and urban alike."

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