Community Governance Review (CGR) Round 2

North Devon Council is continuing its Community Governance Review (CGR) in accordance with Part 4, Chapter 3 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 in which it reviews the boundaries and electoral arrangements for Parish and Town Councils to ensure that they are effective, fair and reflect the needs of their communities.

A number of town and parish councils put forward initial proposals to review electoral matters relating to their council, which were consulted on from 4 July 2025 to 31 October 2025. The results of the consultation have been considered by the Governance Committee on 11 November 2025 and the proposals to be put forward for the second round of consultation, having regard to the consultation responses, have been agreed.

Residents and interested organisations were invited in the first round of public consultation to submit their views on existing arrangements and suggest proposals for change (the results of the first round of consultation are available in Appendix A under the "Documents" section).

Please see Appendix B (under the "Documents" section) which sets out the reasons for the proposals that are being taken forward and for those which are not being taken forward following the first round of consultation.

The seven draft proposals being put forward for the second round of consultation are:

• Fremington and Tawstock - realigning the boundary to follow the A3125 and Old Bideford Road and adjusting the border between Chestwood Avenue and Beechwood Close to run along property boundaries. Extend Fremington Boundary to incorporate Birch Lane to the Old Bideford Road, following the road up to the roundabout. (please see survey CGR for ND1: Boundary line between Tawstock & Fremington) (NOTE: ND1 was previously - A1 Tawstock Parish Council Neighbouring Parish Council affected: Fremington; A2 Fremington Parish Council Neighbouring Parish Council affected: Tawstock; A3 Fremington Parish Council Neighbouring Parish Council affected: Tawstock; A4 Fremington Parish Council Neighbouring Parish Council affected: Barnstaple)
  
  
• Barnstaple Town Council and Pilton West – There are three options for consideration regarding Shearford Close and Trayne Heights and whether they are moved into Barnstaple or kept in Pilton West. (please see survey CGR for ND2: Barnstaple Town Council & Pilton West) (NOTE: ND2 was previously A5 Barnstaple Town Council Neighbouring Parish affected: Pilton West)
  
  
• Barnstaple Town Council and Landkey – Moving the boundary to coincide with the boundary of the Mount Sandford development (please see survey CGR for ND3: Barnstaple Town Council & Landkey) (NOTE: ND3 was previously A6 Barnstaple Town Council Neighbouring Parish affected: Landkey)
  
  
• Tawstock Parish Council – merging the two existing urban wards into a single ward. (please see survey CGR for ND4: Tawstock Parish Council) (NOTE: ND4 was previously B1 Tawstock Parish Council)
  
  
• Ilfracombe Town Council – re-establish Ilfracombe Central ward, giving the town three wards. (please see survey CGR for ND5: Ilfracombe Town Council) (NOTE: ND5 was previously B2 Ilfracombe Town Council Neighbouring Parish Council)
  
  
• Fremington Parish Council – revising ward names and boundaries for fairer representation and efficient administration. (please see survey CGR for ND6: Fremington Parish Council) (NOTE: ND6 was previously B3 Fremington Parish Council Neighbouring Parish Council)
  
  
• Barnstaple Town Council – to establish six wards within Barnstaple: Newport, Central, Pilton, Yeo Valley, Forches and Westacott, and Longbridge (please see survey CGR for ND7: Barnstaple Town Council) (NOTE: ND7 was previously B4 Barnstaple Town Council Neighbouring Parish Council)

Consultation

The Council is required to consult the local government electors for the area under review and any other person or body who appears to have an interest in the review and to take the representations that are received into account. The Council will also identify any other person or body who it feels may have an interest in the review and write to them inviting them to submit their views at all stages of the consultation.

Before making any recommendations or publishing final proposals, a full consultation process will form part of the review to take full account of the views of local people and other stakeholders. The council will comply with the statutory consultative requirements by:

• consulting local government electors for the area under review;
• consulting any other person or body (including a local authority) which appears to the Council to have an interest in the review;
• taking into account any representations received in connection with the review

The consultation will run between Tuesday 18 November 2025 and Friday 30 January 2026.

Next Steps

The final recommendations will be considered by the Governance Committee on 10 March 2026, with the final decision being taken by Council on 22 April 2026.

The Reorganisation of Community Governance Order will then take effect on 1 April 2027 and electoral arrangements for an existing town and/or parish council would come into force at the first elections following the Reorganisation Order, which would be May 2027.

Alternative formats

If you need this survey as a paper version or large print you can request this by emailing the Corporate and Community Services Team at consultation@northdevon.gov.uk(External link) or by calling 01271 388253. Paper copies are available from the new Town Centre Hub in Barnstaple's Green Lanes (Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm), Ilfracombe Community Office, High Street, Ilfracombe (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9am - 5pm closed 1pm - 2pm), and Amory Centre, South Molton (Thursday 9am - 5pm, closed 1pm - 2pm).

The Terms of Reference for this review can be viewed on our website at: Community Governance Review 2025 | North Devon Council

Useful information, including Electorate figures, parish council ratio, whether previous elections have been contested or not, and housing building projection figures, can be found on our website at: Community Governance Reviews - Useful Information

If you wish to view the boundaries in more detail please use the mapping tool: - northdevon/PublicMap

• Click the small arrow on the top right hand side of the screen
• Click the down arrow to access the menu. You will now see the Boundaries menu is available. Please then select 'parish boundaries'.