The new leadership at Devon County Council has a chance to restore trust in local politicians. Will it seize and succeed?

An election result seems as good a place to (re)start as any. Not being a fan of hyperbole, a character trait that would permanently exclude me from sports journalism or selling houses, I’m not going to describe the political changes set in train last week at Devon County Hall as “seismic” or “once in a generation” or “a landmark event”.

For those resistant to change the result might be uncomfortable. For those looking for the new Jerusalem the new line-up might seem underwhelming. For those just wanting to lash out, there may some short term crumbs of comfort. However, for those of us who want to see our local leaders address at least some of the difficult problems – or “wicked issues”{1} – afflicting Devon’s communities and to do so in ways rooted in the politics of social democracy, there is cause for guarded optimism.

So what happened? For the results detail and accompanying analysis my friend and colleague Martin Redfern has done the elections proud in his Exeter Observer articles.

For me, the important take-aways are these.

• The long tedium of Tory supervision at County Hall is at an end. They have held power since 2009 though it’s not clear what they have achieved with it. I will return to the wicked issue of local transport shortly.
• ReformUK is not in control of any local authority in Devon (though it will be interesting to watch how many so-called Conservatives on those district councils with 2026 elections decide that becoming a ReformUKer is the way to salvation).
• A voting system which leaves the 19,000 people who voted Labour without any representation at all on the county council is so far from being fit for purpose that voting reform must now force its way onto Sir Keir Starmer’s agenda. Meanwhile, the ruling Labour group on Exeter City Council needs to reflect on the significance of this result, not least because they lost a by-election seat to ReformUK on the same day.
• The remote and pointless body that is the Devon & Torbay County Combined Authority is now without its supportive Tory Devon CC members. It ought to become even more of a sideshow as the serious business of restoring people’s faith in serious politics gets under way.
• Finally, and whatever its failings, our democracy has done what it supposed to do: replace those whom enough of us consider no longer fit to govern with people who might do things differently.

Let’s think about timing. By 2029 when the next county council elections are due the government’s plans for local government reorganisation should ensure that Devon County Council will have ceased to exist. The new 2025 movers and shakers now have the responsibility of finding agreement on replacement arrangements which will facilitate fixing the wicked issues.

So there are some early decisions to be taken. First up is whether the 27 Lib Dems are going to try and run the 60-seat council as a minority administration, perhaps with some sort of confidence and supply arrangement with the 6 Greens and 2 Independents. That poses risks for the Lib Dems in that the Greens/Indies sitting outside of the tent might be tempted to withhold support for specific measures unless they get something in return. Remember the Ulster MPs who propped up Mrs May after the 2017 general election and their ever open money pit?

With the 18 ReformUK councillors being an unknown and possibly ill-disciplined cohort, if I were the Lib Dem leadership I’d be inclined to go for stability by offering the Greens/Indies a formal coalition – and so a majority administration – giving them 2 or 3 cabinet portfolios in exchange for their support. However the new leader of the Lib Dems, Councillor Julian Brazil, has issued a prospectus steeped in wishy-washyness which looks like a recipe for talking-shoppery and dither.

The second big ticket in-tray item is settling a prioritised programme. If we have 3 years of drift or business as usual, the forces inimical to democracy can only be strengthened. I’m going to use transport as an illustration.

It is by now a policy objective universally accepted in theory – except perhaps by extreme economic liberals – that private motoring in our cities is placing intolerable pressures on our lives. Ill-health through air pollution, streets unsafe and unpleasant for the residents, parked cars everywhere. Given that people will still want to move around, replacements for the private car are urgently needed. Walking and cycling are good but not feasible for all people for all journeys. So reliable public transport is essential and for many of us that means, at least for the time being, buses.

Exeter’s bus services may be improving. But they are still a long way from the reliability, punctuality, comfort and speed that will encourage and enable people to swap their cars without worrying whether the bus will turn up on time.

There is a serious discussion to be had – though it was shut down by the Tories at County Hall – about who controls and funds local bus services. But, and ideologues should now have a stiff drink, that is a second-order issue. If the buses continue to be unreliable the root cause is not their ownership (though the quality of management may be a factor) but the road conditions which lead to congestion and delays.

The county council is both the local highway authority (builds, maintains and manages local roads) and the local transport authority (plans, procures and funds local transport services, mostly buses). You would think that those functions would be dovetailed so as to break down congestion and thus improve the bus service, Evidence of such joined-up thinking, if it exists, has yet to make it outside the County Hall grounds.

For example, where are the measures which prioritise public over private transport? Apart from some tinkering with bus lanes, there is nothing of consequence in place or in prospect. Bus passengers heading east along Sidwell Steet are held for disproportionately long periods by the traffic lights at the junction with York Road and Summmerland Steet while the mostly private car traffic heading north and south passes largely unobstructed. Attempts to restrict the flow of cars into the city are limited to three park and ride services: after all. nothing must detract from filling in the potholes.

The county council cabinet member in charge of highways during the Tory years until his removal by the Sidmouth electorate earlier this month was Councillor Stuart Hughes, formerly of the Monster Raving Looney Party. Those who have watched him doggedly reading out his officers’ briefs and his inability on occasions to think on his feet in the council chamber makes one wonder how he survived for so long.

An ability to dodge bullets might be one reason. When the much-hyped proposals for a low traffic neighbourhood in Heavitree and Whipton were reaching decision point, the political handling was left to the Labour chair of the Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee, Councillor Danny Barnes. He failed to manage a populist rebellion leading to public disorder at County Hall and the collapse of the scheme. He then bunked off to Scotland, leaving a miserable record of not spending his allocation of money for the benefit of his constituents. Exeter Observer has him bang to rights.

Om the local transport side of the county council the cabinet member since 2021 has been Councillor Andrea Davis, once described in the transport press as “effervescent”. She survived the electorate’s cull of Tories with some justification in view of her championing of better public transport, particularly railways. That said, she didn’t achieve much in terms of getting the highways people on side and, bizarrely, leaving the lead on the Local Transport Plan to Hughes.

If the new leadership at County Hall are serious about dealing with the transport wicked issue, I suggest the following.

First, bring the local highway authority and local transport authority functions under a single cabinet member with dynamism, public speaking and management skills.

Second, remember that local government officers are there for technical and managerial expertise. Their strengths do not lie in winning over public opinion, which is where councillors must lead – and do so from the outset (a public consultation is part of the hearts and minds exercise, not a technical process). Councillors need to get out there and convince the sceptics and set a strong political narrative before the wreckers set theirs.

Third, and as noted above, quick-ish wins are essential as part of rebuilding trust in politics. This means identifying known problems, setting project plans to solve them with tight deadlines and keeping everyone focussed. It is surely unnecessary to spend months on producing traffic modelling plans incomprehensible to most people including councillors before making road scheme changes. Officers’ own experience should be sufficient on which to base the necessary planning.

Fourth, what happens now will influence decisions on local government reorganisation. However many unitary councils replace the present arrangements each of those will be responsible for highways and public transport as well as planning (currently a district council function), albeit under whatever strategic authority is put in place. A unitary council will be the best place to take practical decisions affecting local transport and people’s daily experience of trying to get around. In the run-up to change, building relationships with district councils as local planning authorities will be important.

Fifth, every proposal whether from councillors or officers should be tested against the following statement: will this (a) help people get around more easily on foot, on the bike or on public transport (b) show results within 2 years? If it doesn’t, bin it.

NOTE 1 – “Wicked issues” are complex social or cultural challenges that are difficult or impossible to solve due to their interconnected nature and the presence of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements. There is a view that rather than attempt to find solutions, the only realistic approach is to manage the issue.