Cumbria’s councils are preparing for their final meetings to decide if Cumbria should get a new mayor-led authority.
The new authority would be established alongside the existing Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness councils and the Cumbrian councils now must decide if they want to go ahead.
The mayoral authority would have additional strategic responsibilities, set out in law, covering transport and local infrastructure, skills and employment support, housing and strategic planning, economic development and regeneration, environment and climate change, health, wellbeing and public service reform and public safety.
The Government wants to transfer more decision-making powers and funding from Westminster to local areas.
If the existing councils agree to press ahead, a Cumbria Combined Authority would become a legal body early next year, with leadership until mayoral elections in May 2027 coming from Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness councils.
A new authority would have a range of powers, responsibilities and opportunities not available to individual local authorities and be in addition to Westmorland and Furness and Cumberland Councils. This includes access to a £333 million 30-year investment fund.
Westmorland & Furness Council’s cabinet will meet on September 29 to discuss the issue. It can either give consent or withhold consent.
An officers’ report said: “These provisions offer Cumbria additional funding stability, new levers over areas central to local priorities, and a more prominent voice in decisions that affect the county.
“The strategic question for Cabinet is whether the proposed new strategic authority at this time is the appropriate mechanism to help realise Cumbria’s long-term ambitions, recognising both the opportunities it provides and the risks it entails.”
Cabinet’s recommendation will then be discussed by the council’s corporate overview and scrutiny committee on September 30 and a full council meeting on October 9.
Feedback from those meetings will then be considered by cabinet and a final decision to consent or not will be made at its meeting on 14 October.
Cumberland Council is set to make a decision on the same day. Both councils need to consent to setting up the combined authority.
A spokesman for Westmorland & Furness Council said: “This is clearly a very significant decision and we have sought to gain as much information as possible from Government on how the mayoral authority would work, the additional powers and responsibilities the new authority could expect, and the funding available.
“Now, in weighing up their final decisions, members will be considering that information, evidence from other areas of the country that already have an elected mayor and feedback from the Government’s public consultation earlier this year.”
The 30-page report for the September 29 cabinet meeting setting out the risks of consenting or not consenting, and the strategic case for proceeding have now been published.
