Who’s heard of the Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority (DTCCA)? If you have, do you know what it does? It’s all part of the devolution agenda.

We were assured this was a new dawn of extra money and more decision-making powers.

At last Devon would have a strong and effective voice at Westminster. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, as we have come to expect, devolution has entered the lexicon of doublespeak for central government. There is no extra money, and decisions are taken even further away from the people they affect.

As leader of Devon County Council, I’m vice chair or chair (rotating) of the DTCCA Board. This gives me a front row seat, seeing what the outfit is up to.

We had a meeting at the end of March. We signed off the budget for 2026/27. The good news is the authority will be in credit at the end of the 26/27 financial year. The problem is, it’s living beyond its means.

Reserves and carry forwards will be used up with a predicted deficit of nearly £500,000 in 28/29. What really concerns me is the county (and Torbay) may be expected to pick up the tab. In other words, Devon’s council taxpayers would have to foot the bill for running an organisation that, as yet, has delivered no discernible tangible benefit to local residents.

We were told it wouldn’t just be another pointless layer of bureaucracy but as the saying goes; if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck.

The running costs are around £1million but the government only provides a grant of £390,000. It doesn’t look good.

Incredibly, contained within the running costs is over £200,000 for an external audit. So more than half of the government grant is taken by an external auditor to achieve what exactly?

I’ve made it clear we should refuse to pay this exorbitant fee.

I did support this year’s budget because it’s not costing local people. However, I have put the DTCCA on notice that if they try and get extra funding from Devon County Council taxpayers, as long as I’m leader, I will not support future budgets.

Governance arrangements mean the Authority, without my support, would be unable to set an operating budget. I’m told this would constitute a failure to discharge its statutory and fiduciary duties. To continue with my previous analogy, would it then be a dead duck?