New unitary authorities launch today
The current six district councils and Cumbria County Council will be replaced by two new unitary authorities.
Last updated 27th Nov 2023
From today local government in Cumbria will change. The current six district councils and Cumbria County Council will be replaced by two new unitary authorities.
Government announced its decision to create two new unitary councils in July 2021, with a shadow council operating for 12 months before it's launched.
There will be one new council covering the current area of Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland, the council's name will be Cumberland Council.
A second new council will provide services to those in the current areas of Barrow, Eden and South Lakeland, the council's name will be Westmorland and Furness Council.
The shadow council has now put in place everything it needs for the council to become operational, and legal.
All seven local authorities, supported by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, have also been collaborating on the complex operation to create the two new authorities.
However MP Mark Jenkinson has not been impressed with the set up so far.
He said: "The shadow council has been asleep at the wheel for 11 months.
"The successful bid for local government reform identified savings of somewhere around 25 to 30 million pounds on the budget. We haven't seen any plans to bring that forward.
"What we have seen is the new council having to go to the government for permission to borrow to fill gaps in the budget that were never there in the previous councils.
"That's 40 million pound borrowing potentially in the new Cumberland authority just to plug a whole in the budget, not to do anything differently.
"It's a really terrible state of affairs in my opinion."
In response, a spokesman for Cumberland Council said: "Since the elections in May 2022, the main focus of the Shadow Authority for Cumberland Council has been on ensuring that the new councils are established and are safe and legal from day one. In discussions with our residents and community groups, partners like the NHS and business organisations, they are positively confirmed that our approach has been the right one given the complexity of the task of disaggregating county services and aggregating district services with gross budgets of £1b+ and 8000 staff in such a short time. No other local government reorganisation has been done so quickly when splitting county services. This has been a momentous task, with hundreds of staff colleagues delivering over 1000 deliverables to get us to where we are today, with thousands of others supporting and continuing to deliver essential services, we will celebrate this achievement and continue to thank our colleagues for the amazing work they do everyday.
"The Shadow Authority has also agreed its Council Plan and the way the new authority will operate. Whilst this very much builds on the successes and best practice of the sovereign councils, it is distinctive to the new council and reflects its own ambitions and culture. Improving the health and wellbeing of residents is at the heart of everything the new council will do, and the plan focuses on four key areas to achieve this.
"The first is making Cumberland a fairer place by tackling inequality and exclusion in all aspects of society, including racism and multi-culturalism. With a record number of residents using foodbanks, we will support our most vulnerable through our commitment to the right to food and also support care leavers to fulfil their potential. The council also seeks to be a high performing organisation which provides excellent, efficient and enterprising services for everyone. Central to achieving this is through the use of technology but also by planning services in close collaboration with residents and partners. The council will be business friendly and is committed to supporting the local economy through its procurement processes and its assets to stimulate growth, and do what it can to ensure people have the skills they need to succeed. Also key to its plans is action on the environment, supporting the growth of a low carbon economy and help for those affected by extreme weather events.
"On the budget, council tax is a significant source of income. During 2022/23 £143million of council tax receipts are being used to deliver vital, front-line council services in Cumberland including waste collections, street lights, maintaining parks and open spaces, road maintenance, street cleansing, services for young people, and adult residential and homecare. It is therefore crucial that this level of income is maintained especially for those most in need in our communities.
"The council is aware of the financial pressures and cost of living crisis and the pressure this places on households. The Council will therefore continue to provide the council tax reduction scheme to help those on low incomes. This will provide up to 100% council tax discount for qualifying households. Councillors recently enhanced the scheme so that from 1 April 2023 those in receipt of Universal Credit will have any successful application for council tax support backdated to the same date they received Universal Credit. This will mean they will receive their full entitlement to council tax support.
"The council is not immune from the same pressures. Inflationary pressures, energy costs, pay awards etc. mean the council is also facing a steep rise in prices for its goods and services. But it remains imperative that the council continues to protect the vital front-line services to households. In our conversations with government about grant payments, it has been clear that they assume that the council will increase council tax by 4.99% when setting its budget. These payments are much reduced on what they were just a few years ago. The increase is for 2.99% on core council tax and 2% for Adult Social Care. This results in an extra £1.58 a week for an average Band D bill.
"Any additional support from the government will help cover the extra costs for a smooth transition to the new council, and allow the managed transformation of services over the coming years to make the council more effective and efficient in the long-term. Such costs include contractual changes and investment in ICT as the four councils’ services are brought together. Once the council has been established on 1 April, it will look to transform the services it provides. However, any steps it takes to do this will be in accordance with the aspirations in the Council Plan to improve the health and wellbeing of our residents.
"The goal of local government reorganisation is to deliver public service reform, Cumberland Council will achieve this and it will do it in a way that is compassionate, collaborative and ambitious, empowering our residents, communities and staff, driving innovation to think differently about how we deliver better services for the people, businesses and visitors in Cumberland. This will take time and our collaborative approach means that building meaningful relationships with all stakeholders is key, we are keen to work with anyone who shares the same positivity and ambition for Cumberland."