Cumbria County Council approves plan for local government reform

Cumbria County Council's cabinet has agreed plans to replace the seven local authorities in the county with one new unitary authority.

They agreed unanimously on Thursday to submit proposals and a business case to Simon Clarke, who is the regional growth and local government minister, after he held talks with the county's council leaders about reform and devolution.

The council believes the move could result in annual savings of £24million, but there is no agreement between councils and other options, which could include two or more unitary authorities and an elected mayor for Cumbria, have also been mooted.

Cumbria County Council leader Stewart Young said: "I believe the financial case is compelling and important given the challenges we are all going to face post-COVID-19 and post-Brexit.

"I also believe this is a real opportunity to rethink not just how we deliver services but how we engage with communities and scrutiny will be looking at that in more detail over the next few months; the role of parish and town councils and the future of local committees.

"There is no doubt that the public is generally confused about who is responsible for what in the current system and I don't blame them for that.

"That often leads to a lack of accountability which in turn leads to a lack of engagement.

"I believe this is an opportunity not just to reorganise local government but to revitalise local democracy."

The new council would replace the existing county council and six district councils with a single authority by 2022 and would be the most radical reshaping of local government for Cumbria since 1974.

Councillor Young admitted he remained "philosophical". He said once the plans were submitted it would be the Government's decision which if any of the proposals were accepted.

Councillor Keith Little welcomed the plans and said the current system could be difficult to explain to people in the county.

He added: "I think the time has really come in both the economic and environmental situation that Cumbria finds itself in today that we need to go to a single authority with strong leadership and therefore I fully support these proposals today and welcome them."

Councillor Patricia Bell also supported the proposals but conceded she was "disappointed" that reform was being looked at while councils were facing challenges from Brexit and the pandemic.