TORBAY will not ‘take over’ its neighbours as part of the local government reorganisation process.

Instead a ‘partnership of equals’ will guide the bay and South Devon through the complicated process which began last week when the government announced details of the shake-up.

The bay’s existing boundaries will expand to include 17 Teignbridge towns and villages including Teignmouth and Newton Abbot and four from the South Hams including Kingswear, Marldon and Stoke Gabriel.

But members of the influential Torbay Place Leadership Board are adamant that it will not mean the bay ‘taking over’ other communities.

Some reaction to the reorganisation has dubbed the new boundaries ‘Greater Torbay’ or even ‘Super Torbay’, but board members insist that is not the case.

“It is a partnership of equals,” said Torbay’s Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling.

“This needs to be seen as a partnership across South Devon. It is not a takeover.”

A meeting of the board heard that Torbay Council will cease to exist, to be replaced in spring 2028 by a completely new unitary council that could be called Torbay and Southern Devon, although its official name has yet to be confirmed.

“It is not right to say that Torbay is expanding,” said the current council’s chief executive Anne Marie Bond. “Torbay will be a key contributor, but this will be a brand-new authority.”

The bay’s existing councillors will not have to stand for re-election in May 2027, but will have their terms extended until the current council ceases to exist a year later.

Instead there will be elections next spring to select members of the new ‘shadow’ authority that will run alongside existing local councils before taking over in April 2028.

Torquay and Paignton will be the only towns in the new structure without a town or parish council to represent residents at grass roots level, and the government has no current plans to allow more parish councils to be created. Brixham already has its own town council.

Members heard that the role of the board and its new counterpart in Paignton would be vital in representing the communities into the future.

The government’s devolution policies favour creating strategic mayoral authorities to sit above the new unitaries.

The meeting heard that Plymouth City Council was on the brink of joining Torbay Council and Devon County Council in the current Combined County Authority, and that could provide the framework for a strategic new authority to be led by an elected mayor.