Cumbria County Council bid for judicial bid on local government reform fails

A bid to challenge local government reform in Cumbria has failed - leaving a local authority to pay thousands of pounds in costs.

Cumbria County Council had applied for a judicial review into plans to spit the county into two areas, each with its own local authority.

This bid though has been rejected by the judge handling the case.

As a result, the county council must now pay costs of £15,223.41 to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities - the part of the government responsible for the reform of local authorities - and £15,000 to be divided among Cumbria's district councils.

The planned reforms are due to come in in 2023 and will see Cumbria divided into two areas, each of which will have one council. These will be Cumberland (modern day Carlisle, Allerdale and Copeland) and Westmorland and Furness (Eden, South Lakeland and Barrow).

Other options put forward included creating one single unitary authority for the entire county, which was favoured by the county council.

The county council's review had been requested on six grounds, each of which was rejected by Judge Stephen Davies. These were "failure to apply government policy without any reason", "failure to take into account necessarily material considerations in deciding that the EW (east/west) proposal met the criteria", "a failure to take into account necessarily material considerations in choosing between the two proposals", "a failure to consult on the implications of his new policy on devolution", "failure to conscientiously consider the consultation responses" and "consistency".

One argument put forward was that both North Yorkshire and Somerset are set to have single unitary authorities across. In his response, Judge Davies said "I do not accept that there was any public law obligation to adopt the same "approach” in making different decisions in relation to different proposals in relation to different counties".

Councillor Stewart Young, the leader of Cumbria County County, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the two council split will have an impact on services: "Our point was that the proposal from Copeland and Allerdale relied on there being a combined authority so they wouldn't have to split up services.

"It's become apparent that there's no appetite from Westmorland and Furness to join a combined authority."

Cllr Young said: "It is going to be disastrous and we wanted to do everything possible to try and stop it.

"I'm extremely disappointed at that decision."

The Conservative leaders of Carlisle City Council, Allerdale Borough Council and Copeland Borough Council are all in support of the reorganisation, which will see their areas governed as one by Cumberland Council.

Mayor of Copeland Mike Starkie said that the Judicial Review was "nothing more than a delaying and diversionary tactic. He wasn't even supported by his coalition partners in the Liberal Democrats.

"Stewart's standing in the water trying to push the tides back. His days of trying to hold Cumbria back are numbered."

Copeland's mayor was a co-author of the east-west proposal. He called on Cllr Young to resign: "The reality is, it makes Stewart's position untenable."

Cllr Young responded: "It made me smile when I heard that. For Mr Starkie to say anybody's position is untenable when he's brought his council to the brink of bankruptcy.

"The only way Mike could get out of the mess he's created is for (Copeland) council to be absorbed into a new authority."

Liberal Democrats in the county council cabinet were not in support of the Judicial Review but chose not to break off their coalition with Labour over it.

Deputy leader Peter Thornton said: "I'm pleased that this has now been resolved and we can get on with creating two new viable authorities."

Reacting to the verdict, a spokesperson from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “This ruling is good news for the people of Cumbria – reorganisation will help level up the area by strengthening local leadership and ensuring residents get the consistent high-quality services they deserve.”