Speaking on behalf of the Conservative Group at South Hams District Council, group leader Cllr Nikki Hopwood shares her reaction to the government's decision on local government reorganisation in Devon:

South Hams Council officers and members worked tirelessly to put forward a proposal for the whole of Devon and backed everything up with facts and figures, sticking to the criteria set out by the government.

Today we have been told our proposal was not acceptable, and the government has gone with a creation of three expanded authorities, Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay, with a new unitary being called Devon Coast and Countryside.

There is no substance in the chosen option; there is little detail about how it would work, and there are more questions than answers.

None of the three Councils understand how a rural community operates or how hard it is to deliver services, and the government has driven a cart and horses through all that is good for the area. 

They have not listened to the District or Borough Councils, and this proposal leaves a significant part of Devon disadvantaged. 

The government has ignored the parameters it set and therefore wasted our time, as the 451 proposal was set within every parameter the government set, unlike the proposal they went with.

We truly believe that this is the wrong decision for the residents of the South Hams, who are and always have been at the forefront of any decision we have had to make.  Moving forward, we need to work with what has been forced upon us and try to find some positives out of this mess for the sake of the people we represent.