A demand for a refund is set to be made by Devon’s largest council for money it spent on prepping itself for the biggest reorganisation in 50 years that might now not happen.

Decisionmakers at Devon County Council heard that hundreds of thousands of pounds had been spent preparing for the local government reorganisation (LGR) that would have entirely reshaped how the county is governed.

However, an announcement in Parliament on Monday (7 September) stated that the prospective reorganisation in Devon and other areas around the country would be paused and reviewed.

Devon’s cabinet (Wednesday 9 September) had been readying itself to sign-off a move to shift £30 million into a reserve pot to help it pay for LGR, which until the start of this week would have seen Devon’s 11 councils abolished to make way for four new, larger councils.

But Councillor James Buczkowski (Liberal Democrat, Cullompton & Bradninch), the finance cabinet member, asked the meeting to scratch the recommendation to create an LGR reserve, and instead make a bid for a reimbursement for what it has already spent on the process.

“Costs have already been incurred, staff have already been diverted, programme structures have been established,” he said.

“Professional and specialist work has been commissioned, and work has taken place across finance, HR, legal, data, ICT, governance and our statutory services, because government instructed councils to prepare for implementation.

“Somebody has to pay for that and I do not believe that somebody should be the council-tax payers of Devon.

“I therefore think it is entirely reasonable that government should meet the reasonable costs resulting from its decisions.”

Councillor Andrew Leadbetter (Conservative, Wearside & Topsham), had asked earlier in the meeting whether the council might be able to get its money back, while the Reform group leader, Councillor Michael Fife Cook (Yelverton Rural) called the LGR process “an expensive disaster”.

The new motion to get council leader Councillor Julian Brazil (Liberal Democrat, Kingsbridge) to write to government for a refund was passed unanimously by cabinet.

A report on the council’s finances showed that getting ready for LGR had prevented it from delivering at least £1 million in hoped-for savings this financial year.

It outlined issues such as the council not being able to implement a new finance system as swiftly as it wanted to because of the “increased focus on LGR activities”.

Cabinet members did express their gratitude to the government for looking again at the proposed LGR plan for Devon.

Cllr Fife Cook said he hoped there would be “something we can glean from it and turn to our advantage”.

Cllr Brazil agreed there had been “incredible collaboration” between Devon’s councils in the run-up to LGR and during the time spent preparing for it.

“I don’t want to lose that momentum,” he said.

“The lesson for me is that we need to be ahead of the game so that if government comes back, we have already started doing something.

“We can’t stand still, and while that might not be reorganisation, it could be transformation of services.”