THE RESULTS of a consultation on public spending in Devon have shown people in Okehampton feel the county council is trying to do too much.

Devon County Council's 'Tough Choices' campaign saw council leader John Hart visit Okehampton in November as part of a 15 town roadshow asking local people to share their views on where cuts could be made. The council says it is facing a 12% cut in its budget — equivalent to around £26m — for the 2011-2012 financial year.

People attending the Okehampton meeting generally agreed that councils try to do too much; more than 70% of respondents said they did not mind who runs local services. Others, however, were opposed to the idea of privatising services, raising concerns about the impact on standards.

It was almost unanimously agreed that public bodies should share administrative offices in order to cut costs, and most people felt the council should sell off assets and impose charges for some services to raise revenue. The majority of people said the council should not try to protect public sector jobs, unless losing them would affect the overall economy of Devon. A number of people said they would be willing to get more involved running services for the community.

When it came to a board game, where people had the chance to save £50m from the budget through making cuts to some services, most people took a little off each service, feeling this was a fair way of spreading savings without any one service being compromised. Other people felt services, including spatial planning and development control, could be better integrated, while many felt savings could be made in highways maintenance, notably by reducing street lighting at night.

The roadshow in Okehampton was attended by around 70 members of the public from across the West Devon area.