The South Hams-based Leader of Devon County Council Cllr John Hart is standing down in that role but has been nominated for another..
Cllr Hart represents Bickleigh and Wembury has been nominated to be Chairman of the Council subject to confirmation.
It is a largely ceremonial role and he would retain his constituency duties.
The most public-facing part of the chairman role is attending civic and ceremonial functions, and promoting public involvement in the council’s activities.The chairman is also responsible for chairing full council meetings, and has the power to call extraordinary meetings.
He would replace Cllr Percy Prowse
He told the full council meeting: “This is the last time I address the council as leader.
“I have done 15 years and I have a wife who would like to see me more frequently.”
He went on to say he was leaving as age was catching up with him and it was time to pass the leadership on to someone younger.
Cllr Hart had led the Conservatives since 2007.
The meeting was devolution whereby Devon and Torbay would join together to create a Combined County Authority (CCA) which was something the Leader described as his “final act”.
“In my 15 years, we’ve gone through recession, covid, the post-covid period, and now we are in a position to change Devon [County Council] for the first time in its life, and I hope you consider voting for [devolution],” he said. Cllr Hart added that he believed the creation of a CCA would give Devon a louder voice with the government and civil servants, potentially leading to it securing more funding and more responsibility as time went on.
“I think it is good for Devon, and have always said that it is something we need as we have to be closer to the action, closer to what’s going on,” he said. He added he expected central government to be “spreading the load” to councils, noting that more than 60 per cent of people were now living in local authorities that had devolution deals with central government.
Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Independents all raised concerns.