Council officers and government officials are working together on devolution deal proposals that meet the needs of the area and align with government policy.
The next step will be for the government and the local authority leaders to agree the proposed (‘minded to’) deal. The aim is to do this by the end of November 2023.
This will be followed by an eight-week public consultation on the proposal to establish a Combined County Authority (CCA). This will take place during the winter of 2023.
Views will be invited from residents, MPs, businesses, partner organisations, town and parish councils, and community and voluntary groups. The councils will each consider all of the responses to the consultation and determine whether to submit a final proposal to the Secretary of State.
The legal framework is provided by the government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Act. The Act enables the Secretary of State to create a ‘Combined County Authority’ for an area by introducing an Order in Parliament for that purpose with the consent of the area’s councils.
The aim is for the Devon and Torbay CCA to be created during 2024.