The Labour Government has chosen the worst possible option for Devon's future.
Instead of creating councils built around real communities and strong local economies, Ministers have approved a plan that will create a rich Devon and a poor Devon.
Exeter and Plymouth, the county's two major economic engines, will each receive their own councils, able to focus investment, attract businesses and drive growth.
The rest of rural Devon, including Honiton, Sidmouth, Seaton, Axminster and Cullompton, will be placed into one enormous authority stretching across most of the county alongside places such as Barnstaple, Bideford, Appledore and Totnes.
These communities are hours apart and share little in common. They have different economies, different transport networks and different priorities. There is no single town or city that naturally brings them together.
Yet communities we have genuine day-to-day links with, including Exmouth, West Hill, Aylesbeare and Exeter itself, will instead sit in a completely different authority.
It is impossible to understand how this reflects the way people actually live.
Even more concerning is the challenge facing this new rural council.
Rural Devon already faces the greatest pressures of anywhere in the county. It has an ageing population, higher costs of delivering public services, longer road networks to maintain, poorer public transport and communities spread across hundreds of square miles.
Instead of recognising those challenges, Labour has given rural Devon the weakest settlement.
The Government has effectively concentrated wealth, investment opportunities and economic growth around Exeter and Plymouth, while expecting one vast rural authority to cope with the highest costs and the greatest demands.
That is not levelling up.
It is creating a wealthy urban Devon and a struggling rural Devon.
Honiton, Sidmouth, Seaton, Axminster and Cullompton deserve far better than being treated as an afterthought in a council that stretches from the Dorset border to North Devon.
This is not local government reorganisation based on communities or common sense. It is a proposal drawn on a map in Whitehall, with little regard for how Devon actually works.
If you agree that rural Devon deserves a fair deal, sign our petition today and help us send a clear message to the Labour Government: think again.