LGA Governance Peer Challenge: Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority

A team of local government peers, led by the Local Government Association (LGA) delivered a Governance Peer Challenge (GPC) of Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority from 13-15 January 2026. 

Our peer team consisted of highly experienced and knowledgeable senior local government councillor and officer peers (see section four).

Peer Challenge is a well-established and respected improvement and assurance tool that provides robust, strategic and credible challenge and support to councils. Further details about the peer challenge process can be found in Appendix A. 

We considered the five core areas covered by all GPCs: 

• local priorities and outcomes
• leadership and culture
• policies, procedures and standards
• decision making and scrutiny
• connection with residents and stakeholders 

This report provides Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority (DTCCA) with feedback on the peer team’s findings and a set of recommendations. There is an expectation the authority will publish this report and a clear action plan to respond to all the recommendations highlighted.  

DTCCA was established in February 2025 by Devon County Council and Torbay Council. It is a non-mayoral authority that has responsibilities related to housing, regeneration and transport. Although the authority is newly created, DTCCA has requested the GPC as an opportunity to reflect on progress to date and inform future development, particularly in the context of increasing responsibilities and duties. 

The creation of DTCCA has presented opportunities for residents and communities across Devon and Torbay and the members overseeing the progression of the CCA reflected a real enthusiasm and strong desire to ‘get on and deliver’ for the benefit of the communities it serves. There is a recognition that more can be achieved by working together. However, progress is being hampered by a lack of capacity and a consistently shared narrative. A co-produced narrative strategy for how the DTCCA will develop is key to drawing down the opportunities which political leaders could then make the most of.

The peer team felt that DTCCA needs its own identity and autonomy such as email addresses for staff, its own offices and lanyards that identify staff as working for DTCCA to avoid confusion for staff, partners and stakeholders. Recognition as a CCA with a devolution deal already in place will provide a platform from which to build deeper and wider collaboration as well as draw down more from central government in due course.

Existing Service Level Agreements should be concluded as a matter of priority so that DTCCA is clear on its funding and operating position and is meeting statutory compliance requirements by having formally agreed arrangements in place.

Governance arrangements are in place but as the CCA develops they should be regularly reviewed to ensure that they can withstand the implications of significant upcoming funding and changing responsibilities. The lines are soft between constituent authorities and DTCCA resulting in a risk of conflicts of interest and some line management ambiguity.  

On-going support for Board members through on-going member development is recommended to help provide clarity on the role of DTCCA and the respective roles of its members. Informal strategy meetings for Board members will encourage a more collaborative approach to decision making.  Forward plans and agendas should be easily accessible and shared with all members so that there is wider awareness of the work of each of the CCA’s committees.

The Audit and Governance committee appears to be working well and is supported by the internal auditor. A series of audit masterclasses is programmed to support member development in this key area. The Overview and Scrutiny committee would benefit from a similar approach to better understand its role within a combined county authority as this is an area that needs further development.

DTCCA has five advisory groups, and they should play a consistent role and be co-designing policy. Making them politically led by Board members may help to embed collective political ownership for shaping policy and overseeing delivery across the whole of the CCA area.

The footprint of DTCCA includes the area of Torbay Council which is a coastal authority of three main towns around a natural bay and Devon County Council which has a large and complex physical geography made up of eight district councils. The strength of that district perspective, with a strong locality focus and understanding of its place needs is something that should be further harnessed for the mutual benefit of the CCA and most importantly for its residents. A further focus on this will, in the view of the peer team, help both embed and deliver the CCA’s corporate plan priorities.

The development of a communications strategy will help to raise awareness of DTCCA. This should include how to engage with residents and will be important to demonstrate the added value that DTCCA has, can and will deliver.  

The following are the peer team’s key recommendations which have been prioritised on the grounds of urgency and importance. 

Peer challenges are conducted by experienced LGA peers, including elected councillors and senior officers. The composition of the peer team was shaped by the specific focus of the challenge, with the LGA selecting peers based on their relevant expertise. The peers for this GPC were:

• Cllr Rob Waltham MBE, Leader, North Lincolnshire Council and Chair of Employment and Skills Board Greater Lincolnshire Combined Authority – Member Peer (Cons)
• Bridget Smith, Leader, South Cambridgeshire Council and Board Member of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority – Member Peer (Lib Dem)
• Stephen Peacock, Chief Executive, West of England Combined Authority – Chief Executive Peer
• Helen Edwards, Chief Officer Legal and Governance and Monitoring Officer, West Midlands Combined Authority – Senior Officer Peer
• Richard Kenny, Executive Director, Economy and Growth, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority – Senior Officer Peer
• Kathryn Trant – LGA Peer Challenge Manager

This section of the report provides detailed feedback on each of the five core areas of focus.

5.1 Local priorities and outcomes

It was widely recognised by many of the stakeholders and officers the peer team met that the Combined County Authority offers significant opportunities to benefit the residents and communities of Devon and Torbay. There was genuine enthusiasm for what could be achieved and a clear desire to ‘get on and deliver’. However, the peer team expressed concern about the DTCCA’s core operating capacity, separate from the individual programmes and functions for which it is responsible.

Set in this context, the peer team recognises that while the DTCCA has access to capacity through SLAs with constituent councils, the accountability for all functions rests solely with the DTCCA. Reliance on externally hosted capacity creates an adjacency issue in that it limits the DTCCA’s ability to develop its own operating model and is not sustainable in the long term for an organisation that is the legal body responsible for delivery.

The peer team therefore has concerns regarding the limited core operating capacity within the DTCCA. At present, only 5.9 FTE staff are directly employed for the CCA, which the peers view as insufficient both to run the organisation effectively in its current form and to prepare for future responsibilities. This raises questions about the CCA’s ability to deliver the priorities set out in its corporate plan, underpinning our recommendation that the DTCCA must be adequately funded by constituent authorities and undertake a review of its current and future workforce capacity.

From April 2026, the DTCCA will assume full Transport Authority responsibilities for Devon and Torbay. This is a short time away. While the CCA does have access to the capacity needed to meet these obligations, at the time of the peer challenge this capacity sat entirely within constituent councils and was provided through SLAs rather than through staff directly employed by the DTCCA. Functions such as Local Transport Plan development, bus service coordination and capital programme delivery would therefore be delivered on the CCA’s behalf but not from within its own organisational structure. 

Externally located capacity means the DTCCA cannot embed roles within its own organisation that would allow itself to deliver its statutory responsibilities and strategic priorities sustainably in the long term. This again reinforces our recommendation that the DTCCA should be sufficiently funded to employ the staff required to deliver its agreed priorities.

The peer team also have concerns that uncertainties over the future local government reorganisation are causing a distraction for some from the important work of the DTCCA. The CCA must remain focused on its legal obligations under the devolution deal, and its constituent councils must support this endeavour. 

Are the combined authority’s priorities clear and informed by the local and national context?

The corporate plan 2025-2035 was approved by the DTCCA Board in November 2025. It is important to report that the priorities in the plan were shaped by extensive partner and key stakeholder engagement. Many stakeholders the peer team spoke to reflect the positive experience of being able to contribute to the development of the plan.

There are thematic plans underpinning each priority and this suite of plans sets the policy framework for the CCA. This policy framework will guide the activity and decision making of DTCCA to ensure it is outcome focused, following the golden thread of agreed priorities.

One of the key priorities is Housing, and the work on this priority was referenced to the peer team as a positive example of DTCCA using its Devon wide focus to beneficial effect and operating as a combined county authority. District council partners were positive about DTCCA’s commitment to partnership working in this area of housing governance. Partners see the new arrangements, which are necessary to guide the work of creating a new Spatial Development Strategy as well as co-ordinating a regionwide pipeline of housing projects, as an opportunity to aggregate housing and infrastructure plans and strengthen the case for investment with organisations such as Homes England.

The peer team were pleased to see that the corporate plan includes a performance framework, and the progress of several key indicators will be reported to the Board twice yearly. However, as yet the CCA has not determined how it will report and monitor progress; it is important that clear reporting takes place. This will enable the Board to monitor activity and progress against the priorities, provide data for Overview and Scrutiny Committee to undertake deeper dives on specific areas of activity and allow residents and communities to see the benefits of DTCCA. 

5.2 Leadership and culture

DTCCA is a new CCA created by The Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority Regulations 2025 with functions for which it is accountable. It is one of only two such authorities in the country without a directly elected mayor. DTCCA needs to be acknowledged and treated as an entity in its own right. The peer team found difficulty in understanding how the CCA could be truly impactful in the context where there is not a clear identity for the CCA as separate and distinct from its constituent councils. 

This is a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed and is the peer team’s first recommendation. DTCCA needs to have an identity, as do the staff. There are a couple of easy actions that could support this such as the staff wearing DTCCA lanyards and having DTCCA email addresses, rather than being badged as working for Devon County Council. A reflection on current accommodation would also help to identify the CCA as its own authority.

Draft Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are in place that set out which services are provided to the CCA, how those services are provided, and how the CCA is financed, including the cost to DTCCA of the services provided to it by the constituent authorities.However, it became apparent to the peer team that the SLAs had not been fully finalised causing uncertainty about what support could be expected. Finalising these agreements will give clarity over roles and responsibilities and the relationship between the CCA and the constituent authorities. The SLAs are a mechanism for transition in getting the CCA up and running and should ultimately lead to a stand-alone organisation with strong relationships with its constituent authorities.

All councils across Devon have expressed an interest to national government in an early transition to becoming a mayoral strategic authority. However, the peer team heard comments from several stakeholders, including members, that at some stage DTCCA will be abolished for a mayoral strategic authority to take over, so “why bother with what we are doing?” In the view of the peer team, the case for a mayoral strategic authority requires DTCCA to be successful and that in turn relies on the establishment of productive, trusting relationships between all participants. Building on DTCCA’s existing foundations could fast track an application to become a mayoral strategic authority and a lot could be achieved by the CCA in the intervening time. The peer team recommend that the political leadership of DTCCA prioritise the establishment of a shared narrative for the CCA and tries its best to not allow local government reorganisation or further devolution to become an overriding distraction that dilutes this aim.  The constituent authorities need to collectively re-evaluate their role in supporting DTCCA as it grows to ensure the best possible foundations are in place for the potential next steps of the CCA.

The peer team found there was relatively limited political engagement across the activities of the CCA, resulting in an over reliance on officers to present papers at Board meetings. Whilst this may be expected in the very early stages of the CCA, members should now be encouraged to take on a more proactive role. An on-going development programme for Board members and regular briefings for all members will help to ensure that members are engaged in the work of the CCA. A comprehensive member development programme will also support members in understanding the distinction between their roles with DTCCA and with their constituent authorities.  The peer team further recommend a programme of regular informal strategy meetings, preferably when draft Board reports are available, so that Board members can discuss items before they are presented to Board meetings. This would provide an opportunity for views to be sought, and reports amended, if necessary, as currently the first time some Board members see a report is when it is published as part of the meeting agenda papers. Informal strategy meetings would encourage a more collaborative approach across the membership.

The peer team considered the role of district councils in the CCA. There are eight district councils in the Devon County Council area and of four non-constituent positions on the Board, two representatives are nominated by Devon Districts Forum to represent district, borough and city interests on the Board. As non-constituent members there are several votes that those district council representatives are unable to take part in. Devon has a large and complex geography, and the district councils will have understandably a deep-seated knowledge and understanding of their own areas. The peer team view is that better engagement with district councils will help DTCCA develop comprehensive plans and achieve its corporate plan priorities and will pave the way for successful relationships for the CCA post unitarisation.

External stakeholders spoke highly of the senior management of DTCCA. However, some reflected that it would be beneficial if there was more demonstrable political support to encourage greater confidence in the CCA and what it will be able to achieve.

5.3 Policies, procedures and standards

DTCCA had been in existence for less than a year at the time of the peer team visit, so whilst the peer team were unable to give a view on the Annual Governance Statement for example, the peer challenge was seen as an opportunity to review the policies, procedures and standards that were in place before the CCA grows and takes on further responsibilities. This demonstrates the approach of DTCCA senior management to ensure that it continues to develop and improve as it evolves. The peer challenge also offered an opportunity to ensure the foundation governance structures were appropriate ahead of the potential creation of a future mayoral strategic authority.

Does the combined authority have appropriate constitutional arrangements, statutory and good practice policies, standards, controls and procedures in place?

DTCCA has a constitution in place to set out how it works, its legal powers and responsibilities and to guide decision making. It is good practice to review a constitution and related governance documents on an annual basis and the peer team felt that it would be pertinent to do this soon in the case of the DTCCA constitution to ensure that all the sections are relevant. Now that the DTCCA has been operational for almost a year it will be clearer to see which parts of the constitution are relevant and which are surplus and unnecessary.  The peer team understand there is a plan in place to do this and commend that approach.

Regular meetings of statutory officers (the ‘golden triangle’) take place to ensure the effective, lawful and ethical governance of the DTCCA. The concern of the peer team is the capacity to do this effectively into the future when each of the statutory officers are only in place for 0.1 full time equivalent (FTE) each. As the CCA develops this will require careful review.

One of the functions of the statutory officer meetings is proactive risk management.  A risk management policy and strategy were approved by the Audit and Governance committee in June 2025, and a framework to include operational risks is being developed for DTCCA with the support of the Internal Auditor, Devon Assurance Partnership, and input of the Audit and Governance committee. This framework will need to evolve as DTCCA grows so that all risks are monitored and new risks included as new responsibilities are taken on.

Members of the Audit and Governance committee we met with reflected positively on their experience as members of the committee; the peer team concluded that the committee works well; the members were comfortable to ask questions of clarity and had confidence in the internal audit arrangements with Devon Assurance Partnership. This is a strength to take forward.

A series of audit masterclass sessions is in members calendars to further support member development in this critical area which is a positive example. 

The CCA is responsible for several programmes with appropriate management arrangements in place to monitor performance against capital projects and DTCCA priorities. The programme management updates are presented to Audit and Governance committee, and this will need to be a continued area of focus as DTCCA grows to ensure monitoring of project delivery and achievement of priorities.

A strong evaluation culture will demonstrate the value added by DTCCA. Combined authorities have to engage in gateway reviews to proceed with gainshare as well as other government funding and having good evaluation will enable impact and outcomes to be evidenced and demonstrate a delivery track record.

The organisation should create an evaluation framework to accompany its Growth Plan and require all programmes and projects to have monitoring and evaluation plans at the point of approval. Named DTCCA officers should be accountable for tracking performance. This approach will ensure that as the organisation grows insights into what works act as a feedback loop to improve future evidence-based policy development and investment decision making. 

5.4 Decision making and scrutiny

The constitution for DTCCA sets out the voting requirements in terms of which members of the Board are required to vote for specific agenda items. The reports presented to the Board set out these voting requirements clearly. The reports also include consideration of financial and legal matters, although in the view of the peer team it could be made clearer that statutory officers have signed off the reports. This would provide confidence to members and others that the relevant input has been provided by the appropriate people. It would also ensure that the statutory officers clear the reports, so that they are alerted early to potential issues, and can discuss with report authors and amend if required.

DTCCA has a Board for decision making and two committees, Audit and Governance and Overview and Scrutiny. The peer team found little co-ordination between the three.   A quick win to address this would be to share the links to each agenda with every Board and committee member so that they are all sighted on each other’s work.

The key recommendation to review standing agenda items on the Board and each committee is a peer team suggestion that should help to address the lack of linkages between the Board and committees. These standing agenda items should include as a minimum the Forward Plan for the Board and reports from the other committees and advisory group meetings. This will provide the ‘golden thread’ between them all, will support effective decision making and put the contribution of the advisory groups on a more formal footing. 

The Board and committees each have a Forward Plan; however, we found that there was some confusion over where they are published and who receives them. This process would benefit from a review so that the Forward Plans for the Board and each committee are easily accessed. In addition, clear publication on the website would be another demonstration to residents of the activities of the DTCCA.

Meetings of the CCA are open to the public but peers who work within and around CCA’s found it is difficult to find information on the website, although now that the CCA has its own Modern.gov pages this has improved.  The Board meetings are webcast, but the webcasting has not always worked properly and as a result the meetings can sometimes be hard to follow. The Board meetings take place around different council offices across the county, so unless DTCCA can procure its own equipment that is portable, it is reliant on how well other authority’s webcasting systems work.

Does scrutiny provide effective challenge to the combined authority’s strategies, policies and decision-making, in a way that improves policy and decision-making?

Overview and Scrutiny committee has a term of reference included as part of the constitution. However, the peer team found that not all members of the committee appeared confident in their overview and scrutiny role. Comments included that members were “waiting to be led”. It was also suggested to the peer team that sometimes members were confused by “which hat they were wearing that day”, with them confused between their roles on DTCCA from their “home” councils.

The peer team heard some evidence of pre-scrutiny but believe there is scope to develop this. It would be useful to review the scrutiny committee forward work plan, to ensure that it focusses on strategies, policies and proposals to inform their development before they are determined by the CCA Board or other committee (overview function), as well as on scrutinising decisions that have been made or are about to be made (scrutiny function). Members should be fully involved in developing the work plan, rather than it being officer led. 

Members of the Overview and Scrutiny committee reported that there had been little opportunity so far to ‘get into scrutiny mode’. Whilst it is early in the evolution of the CCA, the peer team feel there have been opportunities for overview and scrutiny members to dig a bit deeper and therefore one of the peer team recommendations is to develop the role of scrutiny and to consider what external support may be required to do this.

5.5 Connections with residents and stakeholders

The DTCCA corporate plan 2025-2035 was developed through a comprehensive programme of stakeholder engagement. Workshops were held for each of the priority themes and representatives from advisory groups and relevant organisations were invited to take part, along with representatives from constituent and district councils and the voluntary sector. 

The advisory groups are the main vehicle for engaging with a wide range of stakeholders covering the different priorities and the cross-cutting themes agreed by DTCCA. However, the role of advisory groups is not sufficiently clear. Four of the five groups relate to corporate plan priorities. Two of the groups have (non-voting) associate membership on the Board.  One of the groups relates to the cross-cutting theme of climate change and so far, there is little evidence of how the cross-cutting themes will inform the Board’s decision making. Advisory groups do not have a binding role in decision making other than providing advice to the Board. There is no formal relationship between the groups and Overview and Scrutiny committee. The peer team view is that advisory groups need to play a consistent role in supporting the work of the DTCCA, and the peer team recommendation is that consideration be given to having Board members as political champions and take on the role as chairs of the advisory groups. It is the view of the peer team that political leadership of the advisory groups would ensure transparency between the groups and the Board and would establish Board members as advocates for the work of the committees and enable synergies between the groups’ agendas and the Board priorities. It would facilitate groups feeding into (and back from) the DTCCA Board and enhance the development of a shared narrative and oversight of delivery, aligning the advisory groups to the golden thread of the CCA policy framework. It would also address the comments of group members who reflected that they do not feel as if they are working towards a position shared with the Board. 

How does the combined authority ensure that it is engaging constructively with all voices in the community?

Where the CCA does engage, it does so well. For example, the peer team heard from stakeholders how DTCCA had listened and responded to feedback through engagement on the draft Growth Plan and amended the final version as a result. This evidences an authority that engages effectively, listens to stakeholders and they in turn feel valued.

However, the bigger challenge for DTCCA is engagement with residents.  It was reported to the peer team that there is little awareness of DTCCA or understanding of where it fits in the wider local government structure. This needs to be addressed if the authority is going to be able to demonstrate the value that it brings to the Devon and Torbay. One of the key recommendations from the peer team is that DTCCA develop and resource its own communications strategy linked to its Forward Plan. Methods of engagement with residents should be included as part of this strategy which will help to address the lack of awareness of the CCA.

The senior political and managerial leadership of the authority should review and reflect on the findings and recommendations from this GPC.

To promote the principle of transparency, it is a requirement of the GPC process that the final report of the peer team is published in-full within three months of the review being completed. In this instance, this requires the report to be published no later than 15 April 2026.

There is a requirement for DTCCA to develop and publish an action plan within five-months of the peer team being onsite, no later than 15 June 2026. This action plan should provide clarity on the activity, milestones, and timelines that the council will work to in responding to the team’s findings. 

The action plan will also be central to the peer team’s re-engagement with DTCCA through a progress review which is due to be completed and published by 15 January 2027.

In the meantime, Paul Clarke, Principal Adviser for the South West, is the main contact between your authority and the Local Government Association. As outlined above, Paul Clarke is available to discuss any further support you require and can be contacted on Email – [email protected]

Peer challenge is a valued improvement and assurance tool that is delivered by the sector for the sector. It involves a team of senior local government councillors and officer peers undertaking a comprehensive review of key information and spending three days at the council to provide robust, strategic, and credible challenge and support.

Peer challenge forms a key part of the improvement and assurance framework for local government. It is underpinned by the principles of Sector-led Improvement (SLI) put in place by councils and the LGA to support continuous improvement and assurance across the sector. These principles state that councils are responsible for their own performance; accountable locally, not nationally; share a collective responsibility for the performance of the sector; and rely on the LGA to provide the tools to support them. 

Scope and focus

The peer team considered the following five areas which form the core components of all GPCs. These are critical to councils’ performance and improvement.

1. Local priorities and outcomes - are the authority’s priorities clear, informed by the regional context and engagement with citizens?  Does the authority assure itself appropriately and transparently about delivery of these priorities?
2. Leadership and culture – how well does the authority’s political and managerial leadership display effective leadership of good governance?  Is there a culture of openness, respect, challenge and scrutiny?  Is there appropriate understanding of respective member and officer roles and responsibilities?  How does the authority ensure it is a learning organisation?
3. Policies, procedures and standards – Does the authority have appropriate constitutional arrangements, statutory and good practice policies, standards, controls and procedures in place?  Does it have a good awareness of the effectiveness of its governance and take appropriate steps to address any areas for improvement?
4. Decision making and scrutiny - Does the authority have appropriate frameworks and support in place to support members and officers to make decisions in an accountable and transparent way?  Does scrutiny provide effective challenge to the authority’s strategies, policies and decision-making, in a way that improves policy and decision making?
5. Connection with residents and stakeholders – How does the authority ensure that it is engaging constructively with all voices in the community?  How effectively does it connect with residents, businesses and partners in its decision making and accountability?

The peer challenge process

Peer challenges are designed to support improvement, not inspection. They are not intended to provide a detailed or technical assessment of plans and proposals. Instead, the peer team uses its experience and knowledge of local government to reflect on the information shared with them, the things they observe, and the material they review.

To prepare, the peer team looks at a range of documents and information to understand the council and the challenges it is facing. This includes a position statement prepared by the council before the visit, which sets out the local context and highlights areas for the team to focus on. 

The peer team then spends three or four days at the authority. During this time, they gather evidence, information, and views by meeting with council staff, councillors, and external stakeholders. This helps them build a rounded picture of the council’s strengths and areas for improvement.