THE COMMITTEE tasked with laying the groundwork for the new Cumberland Council is set to meet for the first time next week.

A restructure of Cumbria’s local government is currently underway, following a Government decision in 2021.

Then Secretary of State Robert Jenrick made the decision to split Cumbria into two new local authority areas, Cumberland in the west, Westmorland & Furness in the east.

Elections to Cumberland Council’s Shadow Authority will take place on May 5 with elected members serving for an initial year before a further four year term as the sole authority in Carlisle, Allerdale and Copeland.

The existing county council, city council and borough councils will serve alongside the new unitary authorities during the shadow year, continuing to handle issues such as planning and highways, until vesting day on April 1 when they cease to exist.

Joint Committees have been formed to lay the groundwork for the new authorities, with members from each of the existing councils.

The first meeting of the Cumberland Council Joint Committee takes place at the Civic Centre in Carlisle on Wednesday March 30.

The agenda, now publicly available, reveals that members will select a chair and vice chair for the meetings, they will be asked to agree a proposed calendar of meetings and work programme.

 Councillors will also be asked to agree to the arrangements for the formation of an implementation team, potential meeting dates for the new authorities and the recruitment process for the selection of statutory officers.

This is to ensure the Shadow Authorities are equipped with an interim chief executive; interim chief finance officer and interim monitoring officer.

A report prepared for members states: “The JC will be hosted by Carlisle City Council, with the host authority’s Monitoring Officer being the Secretary to the Board.

“The Host Authority will also identify representatives to provide relevant financial, governance and legal advice to the JC. The historic official records of the JC will pass to each host authority.

“The administrative costs of supporting the JC will be met equally by the constituent authorities, with each authority being responsible for receiving and paying any travel or subsistence claims from its own members, or co-opted members representing that area.”

The Joint Committee will be asked to approve that the next two meetings are held on April 14 and May 12 at 10am.

Copeland Borough Council’s representatives are: David Moore, Mike Hawkins and Linda Jones-Bullman.

Cumbria County Council’s representatives are: Keith Little, Stewart Young and Celia Tibble.

Carlisle City Council will be represented by: John Mallinson, Gareth Ellis and Lisa Brown.

Allerdale Borough Council has sent: Alan Smith, Mike Johnson and Nicky Cockburn.