A leading south Cumbria politician said council services needed a ‘damn good shake-up’ as she looked ahead to the introduction of unitary governance in the county.
Ann Thomson, the leader of Barrow Borough Council, said services had become too Carlisle-centric but felt the current unitary plan – which groups Barrow in with the Eden district – was still problematic.
She discussed the plan for local government reorganisation in Cumbria as she reflected on 2021 and looked ahead to 2022.
“I wanted change,” she said. “I’m a reformist, I want to reform services, because some of them have been the same for many years.”
Cllr Thomson, of the Labour Party, was in favour of the Bay proposal for unitary governance in Cumbria which would have seen Barrow Borough Council, South Lakeland District Council and Lancaster City Council merged.
“It just seemed to me the most sensible thing to do,” she said. “It worked in every respect. We were already working together before local government reorganisation reared its ugly head.”
The ‘east-west’ unitary system that has been chosen will move south Cumbria away from Carlisle – although Cllr Thomson pointed out that Eden and Barrow were still a considerable distance apart and were like ‘chalk and cheese’ in terms of character.
She stressed, however, that councils were ‘working really hard’ to make the plans a success and to ‘come up with a unitary authority that puts residents at the heart of everything we do’.
During the interview, she reflected on the changing appearance of Barrow town centre, saying she could ‘see a different use’ for it in future.
“I think it will be more mixed residential and retail and other things, nightlife and restaurants and bars,” she said. “We can’t fill empty shops, it’s obviously not in our remit.
“It’s a difficult one, because a lot of the national retailers have gone.
“It’s very had to get independents into the bigger shops because the business rates are so high. We only own one shop in the whole of the town centre, and the business rates are set by the Government.
“The public perception is that it’s our fault, but it isn’t our fault.”
She expressed excitement about the £41 million in government funding the council would have to spend for purposes such as levelling up. Included in plans for the money is a new ‘community hub’ at Earnse Bay, Walney.
