A council shake-up that threatens to split a close-knit community in two has been described as ‘bonkers’.

Neighbours in the Bridgetown area of Totnes will be divided by the new boundaries being planned as part of a massive nationwide local government reorganisation (LGR).

Some houses in Higher Westonfields – in the parish of Berry Pomeroy – will get their services from a new Torbay unitary council while neighbours just a few doors away in the parish of Totnes will be served by the new Devon Coast and Countryside authority.

The two new unitaries are part of the new Devon structure proposed by the government, with Exeter and Plymouth also expanding to split the county into four.

Most of Totnes will be in the huge Devon Coast and Countryside council, described by South Hams Green Party councillor Georgina Allen as ‘an anomalous mess’. “It’s like a giant jelly in the middle of Devon,” she said.

She was speaking at an extraordinary meeting of Totnes Town Council, which has called for Bridgetown to stay with the rest of the town within one of the new council areas.

Local residents from Totnes and its neighbouring villages spoke during the meeting. Community group Bridgetown Alive said there were concerns around access to local services and funding for community and voluntary organisations.

Other speakers highlighted issues such as access to libraries and waste transfer stations.

The area of Bridgetown being separated from the rest of the town has no schools, shops, doctors or dentists, meaning its residents will all rely on facilities ‘across the border’ in the rest of Totnes.

One public speaker said the plan was ‘bonkers’. “Bridgetown has one cohesive identity,” he added. “This will just divide the community, and the residents of upper Bridgetown do not want to be part of a divided local community.”

Another said: “This will just create a whole host of problems. It is a recipe for significant iniquity.”

Cllr Allen told the meeting the parts of Devon left behind in the Devon Coast and Countryside council would become poorer while the urban centres of Torbay, Exeter and Plymouth got richer.

“We will be left to decay,” she said. “Councillors will try very hard to make sure that doesn’t happen, but it seems absolutely horrendous.”

The town council will now write to the government’s housing and communities secretary Angela Rayner setting out its concerns. It says it wants the whole of the Bridgetown housing estate to remain within a single Devon unitary authority area.

The council says it also has longer-term concerns about the future protection of important community assets, green spaces and natural habitats including Longmarsh and the River Dart.

Villagers in Berry Pomeroy also emphasised their opposition to the shake-up at a meeting attended by South Devon MP Caroline Voaden and the leader of Torbay Council David Thomas.

“The message to the government was absolutely clear,” said Ms Voaden. “We reject your plans to divide our community!”

People in the village say they want to stay in the new Devon Coast and Countryside Council rather than an expanded Torbay.

“Labour’s plan slices the wider Totnes area in two, leaving Berry Pomeroy parish, which includes the upper portion of Bridgetown, cut adrift from a community it has belonged to for generations,” said Ms Voaden.

“We must force the government to change course.”