Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council have confirmed - in a letter to the UK Government - their commitment to joint working across their council boundaries. As Government offers to begin to explore another devolution for Cumbria.
Cumbria has previously had devolution deals offered that the former county council and district councils failed to accept. A devolution deal, which would have involved the transfer of money and decision-making, fell flat in 2016 when councils failed to agree on a governance model and talks in 2020 also failed leading to the local government restructuring in Cumbria replacing the county council and six districts with the two unitary councils.
Cumbria is now the only part of the North without a devolution deal and a combined authority. Many areas have as part of deals had the role of a directly elected Mayor created alongside a combined authority.
North Yorkshire Council and York City Council that underwent local government reorganisation in April 2023 like Cumbria accepted a £500 million pound devolution deal that puts greater powers into local control an was announced in August 2022 leading to the launch of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority on the 1st February 2024. North Yorkshire voters are now set to elect North Yorkshire’s first Mayor on May 2nd.
In response to an offer of support from the Government to begin to explore devolution for Cumbria.
A letter, signed by Leaders of each council, has been sent to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Jacob Young.
With both councils welcoming the offer and confirming that they are happy to meet with members of the Levelling Up team to explore the level and type of support available.
Joint working is already demonstrated within the council areas across Cumbria. Earlier this month the councils agreed to the transfer of Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) functions across Cumbria and new Cumbria Economic Growth team is also in the process of being established.
This requires both Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness Councils to work together to support the integration of LEP functions. The councils have agreed that a Joint Executive Committee will provide the basis of joint working and collaboration on strategic economic growth across the Cumbria geography.
In January a call was made by local political party Putting Cumbria First calling on leadership of Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council to seek a devolution deal for Cumbria.
Jonathan Davies speaking at the joint executive committee of Cumbria’s two unitary councils called for both council leaderships to halt the “expensive and time-consuming process” of disaggregation of council services that is creating what he claimed was 'costly duplication' of roles services in both councils that are currently, and have been for years, delivered as one across Cumbria.
Mr Davies called for the two councils to agree to look at the potential of creating a combined authority for Cumbria and build on the cooperation established by the joint executive committee already as a foundation for a combined authority for Cumbria, and the potential of a devolution deal for Cumbria.
Mr Davies said the creation of the two new councils took up valuable time and finances and, in many cases, created duplication of services and roles across both councils.
Speaking on behalf of both councils in January, councillor Jonathan Brook, the leader of Westmorland and Furness Council, said:
"In respect of devolution, we have been clear that we needed to conclude local government reorganisation before considering devolution.
"We are still in the process of disaggregating and integrating functions and services from the legacy authorities and shaping the two new unitary councils.
"The current Government has made it clear that any area wanting access to level three powers and funding must have a directly elected leader. We now need to understand what the forthcoming general election means for devolution of powers and funding for Local Government.”
The leaders of both councils following the invitation by Government to once again explore devolution for Cumbria.
Cllr Mark Fryer, Leader of Cumberland Council, said:
“We continue to work with Westmorland and Furness Council on a variety of hosted and shared services. The relationship between the two councils is as strong as ever, and the LEP transfer is a catalyst for us working together on the economic prosperity of Cumbria.
“We are fully supportive of key developments underway within the wider region and know there is real benefit to us working together to create a strong voice for Cumbria.”
Cllr Jonathan Brook, Leader of Westmorland and Furness Council, said:
“Both councils are ambitious for their areas and passionate about both delivering strong services and creating new opportunities for residents and businesses.
“We welcome any opportunity that enables us to move further and faster with bringing our vision to reality for the benefit of people across our respective areas.”
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