The Chair of Westmorland and Furness Council Cllr Severn, slammed his gavel in anger on Thursday afternoon during a heated exchange over the council’s cabinet agreeing a compact with CALC.
Cllr Dew was questioning the council cabinet members during the full council meeting about the approval by the cabinet of an agreement with the Cumbria Association of Local Councils, a membership organisation that many town and parish councils pay an annual fee to be members Penrith Town Council pays annually £1,491 membership fee, as well as Westmorland and Furness Councils also paying the limited company over £30,000 since April.
The cabinet agreed to the new compact with Calc that Cllr Dew said appeared to elevate the status of the organisation.
As part of the new agreement Westmorland and Furness council agreed with Calc the organisation was given a seat on each of the council’s locality boards for one of the organisations directors in Eden, South Lakeland and Barrow.
The Locality Boards were established by Westmorland and Furness Council as ‘area committee’ and act in the areas of the former district councils. They may be given substantial powers and responsibilities by the Leader and Cabinet under the council constitution.
Concerns around the agreement were first raised at a cabinet meeting in October, by Cllr Davies, who attended the meeting held at Barrow Town Hall and challenged the Westmorland and Furness Cabinet around the wording of the recommendations, that said agreement was legally binding on town and parish council who played no part in the drafting of the agreement.
The cabinet agreed to remove the legal binding obligation on town and parish councils in October but approved the compact between the council and Calc granting the unelected seats on the councils three locality boards to its limited company directors.
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