OVERWHELMING public concern has shaped West Devon Borough Council's response in opposing draft proposals by the Boundary Committee for a single giant unitary council for Devon and an alternative unitary council for Exeter and Exmouth with a residual unitary council for the remainder of Devon.

Throughout the eleven-week consultation period, which end last Friday, the council has been gauging the views of its residents through talking to individuals and organisations, holding public meetings, staging exhibitions and taking part in many events across the borough.

The vast majority have told the council that the Boundary Committee's proposals are not right for West Devon, or for Devon as a whole.

Last week, the council agreed its formal response to the Boundary Committee on its draft proposals saying that Devon is too large and too diverse for either option to function efficiently or successfully.

In a letter to the Boundary Committee, Cllr James McInnes, leader of the council, and Cllr Margaret Garton, deputy leader, say there is no evidence of support for either proposal in West Devon.

Cllr McInnes said: 'The public's view is that local government in Devon is not broken and does not need fixing.

'High performing services, public satisfaction and confidence in decision making will be jeopardised in pursuit of minimal improvements in financial efficiency that may never materialise, as a consequence of being based on unrealistic and insufficiently robust financial assessments.'

The council believes the proposals will lead to a catastrophic erosion of democracy in Devon.

Unitary Devon will result in one councillor to every 7,400 people. The proposed council will have the worst democratic representation in England by a significant margin over the current largest unitary council of 1 to 5,864 in Bristol.

The council also questions how seriously the Boundary Committee considered its South Devon and Dartmoor concept.

Cllr McInnes added: 'As a result of our investigations it seems clear to us that the Committee has given minimal consideration to any other concepts, including the South Devon and Dartmoor concept which has considerable public support.'

The council also reiterates that public consultation on the proposals undertaken by the Boundary Committee is fundamentally flawed.

Cllr McInnes said: 'Un-costed proposals have been put before the public without proper explanations or details of how the new unitary councils might actually work and improve upon the status quo. '

The process was further flawed, the Council believes, when it was revealed halfway through the consultation period that the public was entitled to express a preference for the status quo.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has confirmed that the Boundary Committee should now fully consider its proposals alongside the benefits of the status quo, before providing its final recommendations to the Secretary of State.

The Council also disputes the savings being forecast from the proposals — an estimated £29 million which was only made public two weeks ago.

Cllr Garton said: 'The overall aggregate budget for all local government services in Devon is currently £1.4 billion. The £29 million in savings from creating a single Devon unitary is only 2% of this total spend and barely within a margin of error.

'All councils in Devon are committed to finding their year on year savings in any event. The savings claimed from going unitary are only slightly greater than what will have to be achieved anyway.

'With the current state of the economy, there can be no guarantee that these forecast savings can be delivered against a rapidly deteriorating economic climate.'

The council makes it submission to the Boundary Committee today (Thursday).

The Boundary Committee is expected to make its recommendation on the Devon Local Government review to Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, in December.

A government decision is expected early next year.

An online petition calling for the retention of the current system of local government in Devon has been started on the 10 Downing Street website.