Cumbria Local Government Reorganisation

Part 1. The bits you dont get in the news.

On the 21st July 2021 the then secretary of state Robert Jenrick announced his intention to create 2 unitary councils in Cumbria on an east west split that would see the west Unitary replace Carlisle City council, Allerdale Council and Copeland Council.

The council in the east would replace Eden, South Lakeland and Barrow with the 2 Unitary also replacing the county council also in the respective unitary areas.

This announcement came after the previous secretary of state during 2020 invited the current 6 district councils and the county council to put forward proposals for unitary for the government to decide if they wished to proceed to create a new unitary council structure for Cumbria.

In September Robert Jenrick MP was sacked from his post as secretary of state.

Mr Jenrick was not without controversy having admitted to helping a former porn baron turned property developer to save millions by overruling local councils and describing it as “natural justice”

Michael Gove MP replaced Robert Jenrick in his role with a change of department name to Secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the 15th of September.

The new Secretary of State for LUHC continued the process of creating 2 unitary in Cumbria.

Cumbria County council launched a process to challenge the process that had been placed on Cumbria by government that is actually against the guideline’s government have in place for creatin unitary regarding numbers of population etc.

A number of attempts by Conservatives to stop the process of judicial review taking place by the county council have happened but the process of a judicial review progressed.

However tonight it can be reveal this judicial review process has now been delayed and will not get underway until January 2022 the same time the place change order will be presented by Government to parliament to approve to enable the government to wipe out the current local government in Cumbria and create the 2 unitary authorities named Cumberland to the west and Westmorland and Furness to the East.

We now know Cumberland will have 46 councillors, while Westmorland and Furness will be formed of 65 councillors.

We also now know that all assets of the current councils will become assets of the new unitary councils to do with as they wish and that no devolution of assets from the current councils to communities including to town and parish councils will take place until the new unitary take over in 2023 and it will be upto these new councils to decide what happens to assets in the future.

So Who is footing the bill for the new unitary council’s creation?

Well in short, the people of Cumbria as the current 7 councils have to create a pot of £15-£18 million with each of the 6 district councils contributing approximately £1.6 million and the county council the rest.

Government gives the blue print and orders to create via the change order but no funding to enact the changes that falls to the funds from council tax paid to our current councils.

The process in Cumbria has been described by the CEO of Barrow Council as the fastest ever seen in the country with the timeline by government to hold elections in May 2022 and the council take over on the 1st of April 2023.

The process needs to see all the services of the current councils put into plans for delivery including county wide services like Highways, Social care, Children’s Services, Library services,education and Cumbria Fire Services that are currently part of Cumbria County council.

From the 1st of April these services will all have to be delivered across the unitary areas by the council covering those areas not a single Cumbria wide council delivering the services across Cumbria.

The CEO of Barrow Council has said the decisions to be made still over the future of fire services in Cumbria as fire is currently part of Cumbria County Council for funding and deliver and Cumbria county council will no longer exist. Options include splitting the fire service into two smaller fire services covering the new unitary areas or possibly a trust.

We understand that Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioners office is looking at an option to combine Police and Fire Services into a new combined Blue Light service for Cumbria as another option in the future of Cumbria Fire services.

Some Councillor’s in West Cumbria have said that there will be a combined authority and a Mayor for Cumbria?

Any combined authority would be unto the new unitary when it takes over in 2023 to consider and decide and this would then take a further 18 months plus to implement of approval is given and government approve the process.

Plus a combined authority and mayor then set their own precept on the Council tax on top of the Unitary council, Police, parish councils and social care charge.

A mayor and combined authority also focus on place shaping issues rather than people focused services.

In effect if a combined authority is created it would not happen until around 2025 and would in effect create the 3rd level of local government again duplicating what we have now with less representation and local services from councils.

Now the process in Cumbria is getting delivered by a board set up of the CEO’s of the current 7 councils who are acting to deliver the unitary councils foundations.

This is against a framework government have given them to deliver alongside the normal day job of delivering services across Cumbria including responding to Covid19, Storm impact and making sure the bins are empties and the fire service is funded.

The CEO of Barrow has said that Cumbria does not have the capacity and resources in Cumbria to deliver the unitary process and will need external consultants support to deliver unitary against the government plans and time frame.

So who will benefit from Unitary… Well one is Blue the other Yellow right now not the people of Cumbria that’s for sure………….