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West Devon Borough Council
West Devon Borough Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Leadership
Mayor	Debo Sellis, ; Conservative ; since 21 May 2024
Leader	Mandy Ewing, ; Independent ; since 30 May 2023
Chief Executive	Andy Bates ; since June 2020
Structure
Seats	31 councillors
Political groups	Administration (20) Independent (11) Green (4) Liberal Democrats (4) Labour (1) Opposition (11) Conservative (11)
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
	Kilworthy Park, Drake Road, Tavistock, PL19 0BZ
Website
	www.westdevon.gov.uk

West Devon

Borough of West Devon
West Devon Borough of West Devon
Non-metropolitan district and borough
	West Devon shown within Devon
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South West England
Non-metropolitan county	Devon
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Tavistock
Formed	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	West Devon Borough Council
• MPs	Geoffrey Cox; Mel Stride
Area
• Total	448.3 sq mi (1,161.1 km2)
• Rank	21st (of 296)
Population (2022)
• Total	58,190
• Rank	292nd (of 296)
• Density	130/sq mi (50/km2)
• Ethnicity	99.1% White
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	18UL (ONS); E07000047 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SX5150683684

West Devon is a local government district with borough status in Devon, England. Its council is based in Tavistock, the borough's largest town. The borough also includes the towns of Hatherleigh, North Tawton and Okehampton, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas.

A large area in the south-east of the borough lies within the Dartmoor National Park, and part of the south-west of the borough lies within the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The neighbouring districts are Torridge, Mid Devon, Teignbridge, South Hams and Cornwall.

History

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of three former districts which were all abolished at the same time:^[1]

The new district was named West Devon, reflecting its location within the wider county.^[2]

On 27 April 1982 the district was awarded borough status, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.^[3]

Governance

West Devon Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Devon County Council.^[6] The whole borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[7]

In the parts of the borough within the Dartmoor National Park, town planning is the responsibility of the Dartmoor National Park Authority. The borough council appoints two of its councillors to serve on the 19-person National Park Authority.^[8]

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since the 2023 election, being led by a coalition of the independent councillors, Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour.^[9]

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:^[10]^[11]

Party in control		Years
	Independent	1974–1987
	No overall control	1987–1991
	Independent	1991–1995
	Liberal Democrats	1995–1999
	No overall control	1999–2015
	Conservative	2015–2020
	No overall control	2020–2021
	Conservative^[12]	2021–2023
	No overall control	2023–present

Leadership

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in West Devon. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2012 have been:

Councillor		From	To
James McInnes^[13]	Conservative		May 2012
Philip Sanders^[13]^[14]	Conservative	15 May 2012	May 2019
Neil Jory^[15]^[16]	Conservative	21 May 2019	May 2023
Mandy Ewing^[17]^[9]	Independent	30 May 2023

Composition

Following the 2023 election and subsequent by-elections in June 2023 and May 2024, the composition of the council was:^[18]^[19]^[20]

Party		Councillors
	Conservative	11
	Independent	11
	Green	4
	Liberal Democrats	4
	Labour	1
Total		31

The independent councillors, Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour sit together as the "West Devon Alliance" group, which forms the council's administration.^[21] The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2015, the council has comprised 31 councillors representing 18 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.^[22]

In the EU referendum of 2016, the majority of voters in West Devon voted to leave the European Union (18,937 to 16,658, that is 53.2% to 46.8%). The turnout was 81.25%.^[23]

The borough straddles the constituencies of Central Devon and Torridge and West Devon.^[7]

Premises

The council is based at Kilworthy Park in Tavistock, being a modern office built on the site of the goods yard of the old Tavistock North railway station.^[24]

Towns and parishes

The whole borough is divided into civil parishes. The parishes councils for Hatherleigh, North Tawton, Okehampton and Tavistock take the style "town council". The small parish of Kelly has a parish meeting rather than a parish council.^[25]

Town Twinning

West Devon has been twinned with Wesseling, Germany since 1983.

Arms

Coat of arms of West Devon Borough Council
Notes Granted 3 December 1975 by the College of Arms. Crest On a mount Vert a Dartmoor Pony supporting by the sinister forelef an oak branch all Proper. Torse Or Gules and Azure. Escutcheon Quarterly Gules and chequy Or and Azure over all a pale wavy Argent charged with a pallet wavy Azure between in the first quarter a fleece Or in the fourth quarter upon a base masoned a tower with portal and window also masoned Proper. Motto Crescit Sub Pondere Virtus