Should Cumbria become a single Unitary Authority

Should Cumbria Move to become a Unitary Authority?

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, a single Cumbria Unitary Authority would save around £15 million a year. One assumes that the savings will be derived from the reduction in Chief Executives and Directors of Departments all of whom are very well paid as seven authorities merge into one. Other savings, it appears, would come from the reduction of councillors from 371 to around 84 all of who are paid allowances and expenses.
 
We have to say that the thought of one Unitary Authority for the County is a good idea, however, no matter where you go around the county the feeling seems to be that to those of us not resident in or around Carlisle there is isolation. Be it Fact or Myth, it seems for those of us not living in Carlisle, when anything happens, it's usually in Carlisle or nearby and we are all expected to travel to Carlise to support it.
 
A number of NGO's (none governmental agencies) are located in Carlisle or Penrith which is little but a stones throw away from the city. And let's face it, you only have to look through the back editions of papers to see one argument after another from District and Borough Councillors about Carlisle taking the cream while the rest of the county gets the crumbs.
 
How true that is we would not like to speculate, but the fact is that there have been and continue to be "Turf Wars" over cash and control around the county. Perhaps the only way to silence and stop the turf wars is to create a unitary authority, because tose turf wars and the inward thinking of certain organisations who focus on one particular area has surely held the county's economic well being back over many years. Cumbria will continue to loose out against it larger and more populated neighbours as long as we can be divided and conquered by less well deserving authorities for ever decreasing cash from central government.
 
There will be some redundancies if Cumbria becomes a Unitary Authority, that is inevitable, but as long as the jobs are not exported to Carlisle it should be acceptable. After all, many of us have lost jobs during the demise of the Coal, Steel, Shipbuilding and manufacturing industries. Eventually, local government will have to fit the community and its needs, currently it doesn't; local government as it stands today is too parochial and inward looking.
 
A single unitary authority could become much better at providing the services the community needs than the present two tier system does and one large authority would have much more clout than seven small councils when negotiating on our behalf with Central Government or fight our corner against competitor councils such as Greater Manchester or Liverpool.

What are the timescales?

• 18 January 2007 - Full council meeting in Kendal. Cumbria County Council members vote on whether to put forward a bid 
• 25 January 2007 - The Government's deadline for bids for new unitary councils  
• End March 2007 - Government to announce which bids it likes  
• March to June 2007 - a 12-week consultation period with stakeholders in areas where the Government likes unitary bids  
• End July 2007 - Final decision by Government on decision on which bids have been successful  
• May 2008 - Elections to a new authority, which will shadow, or co-exist alongside the county's existing set up for one year  
• April 2009 - the new unitary council for the whole of takes over the running of council services 

View a copy of the draft report - One Council, one vision, one voice

Let us know what you feel