More than 1,000 people have signed a petition calling on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to rethink government plans to shake up Devon’s councils.

The petition, set up by South Devon Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden, calls on the PM to ‘reverse Labour’s carve-up of Devon’s local authorities’.

The government has accepted a proposal put forward by Labour-run Exeter and Plymouth city councils to expand both of those authorities, along with Torbay, while creating a new Devon Coast and Country Council in the space between.

That new authority will have the job of delivering services from Lynton to Salcombe, and Ms Voaden has raised the alarm that with its economic potential ‘carved out’, the new Devon Coast and Country Council will struggle to deliver timely, affordable services across its roughly 110-mile remit.

She has also highlighted the inconsistency between the government’s actions and its own rhetoric about local government reorganisation.

When she announced plans to reorganise councils across England, the Housing Secretary Angela Rayner promised an end to the era of ‘diktats from above’.

But, said Ms Voaden: “This promise appears spurious given that 69 per cent of those consulted had a negative view of the plans Labour are going ahead with.

“On every major test, Labour’s plan was rejected and yet the government is pushing ahead with it. But Devonians are not going to take this lying down.”

She said that while touring the constituency this summer local government reorganisation had been a constant topic of conversation.

“People are angry and deeply frustrated about the plans being forced upon them by Whitehall,” she said. “Andy Burnham thinks devolution should come from the ground up, not be imposed from above. This plan makes a mockery of his belief.

“Nobody in rural Devon wants this to go ahead. It must be reversed.”