TOWNS and parishes across West Devon are being urged to conduct parish polls, following the announcement last week of a proposed radical shake-up in local government which would see an end to the borough council. Tavistock Town Council has led the way in scheduling a town meeting for July 30 where the public will be asked if they want a parish poll to find out the views of the whole community — to carry out a parish poll, which would cost around £2,000, ten electors would need to demand one at the meeting. The Boundary Committee favoured an option to scrap one tier of local government, making Devon a unitary authority, excluding Plymouth and Torbay . It would result in the largest unitary authority in England and second only to Birmingham in population. The proposal has received a mixed reaction —many think it will be 'too big' and will make rural communities more remote with one councillor representing 7,500 people. But others feel it will devolve more power to town and parish councils and the proposed 28 community boards based around the county's market towns. Communities have until the end of September to make their views known to the boundary committee. Mayor of Tavistock Robin Pike, who is also a borough councillor, said holding a parish meeting was the first step to getting a parish poll. 'This is a critical time in local government and the biggest fear is how we will be represented if we have a unitary authority. 'Devon is a very big county and is sparsely populated with some urban areas. It is these urban areas which will have the most members and rural areas will have the least amount of councillors, who will be very stretched.' He said the current system of partnership working between West Devon Borough Council, South Hams and Teignbridge councils and Devon County Council, to a certain extent, was beginning to save money and he was disappointed the borough council's proposal for a South Devon and Dartmoor authority had been dismissed. Former borough councillor for Tavistock Roger Mathew is pushing for parish polls to be carried out across West Devon. He is against the single unitary authority as he fears local accountability will be lost. He said: 'It will suit the Treasury because it is about dealing with one big council rather than nine or ten little district councils. 'Slapping £800-million at one council in a big lump makes their job easier and also makes potential savings for the Government, but the council taxpayers will see no benefit.' Mr Mathew said if there was any hope of the Boundary Committee changing its mind, the people of Devon had to make as much noise as possible. 'There needs to be a reaction all over Devon and we need to make a big noise to make it impossible for the Government to go ahead with it.' Okehampton Town Council, meanwhile, is gathering information on the proposal before it goes out to public consultation and is setting up a working party with other interested parties to thrash out 'the fine detail'. Mayor of Okehampton Kay Bickley said the three issues of concern were: would council tax increase, how were services going to be affected and how instrumental were the community boards and parish councils going to be in terms of things like planning and environmental health? 'The outline proposals are fairly skimpy and if we are going to hold a public meeting we need to be able to answer people's questions,' she said. 'Once we have the information we will canvas people's opinions, but unfortunately we have a very short time frame to do that.' The meeting in Tavistock about the Boundary Committee's proposal will be held on July 30 at 6.30pm in the town hall.