I WRITE in connection with the review of local government arrangements being undertaken by the Boundary Committee for England. I am an 85-year-old lady living in West Devon and wish to contribute the following comments: West Devon is a very large, sparsely populated rural area, with the main towns of Okehampton and Tavistock having just a few thousand residents (by comparison to the more densely populated towns/ urban areas elsewhere in the county). It is a lovely place to live and residents are prepared (though they may struggle) to pay some of the highest council taxes in England. The geographic location of the West Devon Borough Council area means that its residents currently receive many countywide services from the far reaches of Devon — for instance, social care is based in Barnstaple and Newton Abbot. For hospital care, residents from this district attend Torbay, Exeter, Barnstaple and Plymouth. Therefore no boundary changes are going to improve this service for the residents of West Devon — conceivably, services will be far worse. To be 'lumped in' with Plymouth UA or be be in South Devon and Dartmoor UA will not mean the services are any closer or better funded. The risk will be that West Devon, and Okehampton in particular, will be completely marginalised. Following a broken hip last year and a recent stroke, I have been fortunate to receive excellent care in Tavistock Hospital (Devon PCT) and Harewood House (Devon Social Services Re-ablement Unit, Tavistock). There is a higher proportion of older residents in this county, and West Devon in particular, and the quantity of health and social care needs to increase (substantially), not decrease. Devon has the experience to deliver these services (although not the funding required to make them really effective). If West Devon, or parts of it, are subsumed into Plymouth UA or South Devon and Dartmoor UA, then health and social care will be even more remote and will have even less funding. It has been cited that the South Devon and Dartmoor UA proposal would be viable, having around 260,000 residents. Plymouth is a poorly performing unitary authority, despite having a similar population size in a more dense urban setting. It should be easier (and cheaper) to deliver services effectively and efficiently in a concentrated area, but they have failed to make it work. South Devon and Dartmoor UA would be seeking to provide all those services (health and social care; highways, education, drugs and alcohol, libraries etc etc) across a vast rural area. If Plymouth UA cannot make it work, how can South Devon and Dartmoor UA succeed in a far more rural setting? It can't. Therefore, my 'vote' is for maintaining the status quo for the foreseeable future. Name and address supplied