Cumbria County Council | |
|---|---|
 Arms of Cumbria County Council | |
 Council logo | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Chairman | Tim Westoll (first) Tony Markley (last) |
| Elections | |
| First-past-the-post | |
Last election | 4 May 2017 |
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Cumbria County Council was thecounty council for thenon-metropolitan county ofCumbria in theNorth West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it was an electedlocal government body responsible for the most significant local services in the area, includingschools, roads, andsocial services.
On 1 April 2023, the county council and 6 district councils were abolished. In their place two new councils were created, with local government functions transferred to the two newunitary authorities:Cumberland Council andWestmorland and Furness Council. The county lines of Cumbria remain intact.
In 1974, under theLocal Government Act 1972, the administrative counties ofCumberland andWestmorland and thecounty borough ofCarlisle were abolished, and the areas they covered were combined with parts ofLancashire and theWest Riding of Yorkshire to form a newnon-metropolitan county calledCumbria.[1]
Cumbria County Council was responsible for the more strategic local services of the county, including education (schools, bothprimary andsecondary),libraries and youth services,social services, highway maintenance,waste disposal,emergency planning,consumer protection, andtown and country planning for minerals matters, waste and for highways. This made it a substantial employer.
The formerCumberland County Council's final major road scheme, anA66bypass forKeswick, was prepared byScott Wilson Kirkpatrick, consulting engineers, in 1972,[2] and construction began in the summer of 1974, with the new authority completing the scheme.[3]
The Council operated various recycling and waste disposal facilities across the area. In January 2012, the Council announced plans to close six of these centres. The six sites identified by the review as most suitable for closure are atAmbleside,Brampton,Grange-over-Sands,Kirkby Stephen,Millom andWigton.[4]
The administrative offices were atCumbria House in Botchergate, Carlisle, and formal meetings of the Council were held at theCounty Offices inKendal.[5]
Control of the council swung back and forth. In its first four years (1973–1977) there wasno overall control, but in 1977 theConservatives gained a majority. In 1981, this became a majority forLabour, and from 1985 there was again no one-party control. In 1997, Labour again took control, but they lost it in 2001. In the final years of its existence there again was no party with a majority.
A proposal for Cumbria to become aunitary authority was made in 2007,[6] and Cumbria went into consultation, with opposition coming from thedistrict councils which would be abolished:Allerdale,Barrow-in-Furness,Carlisle,Copeland,Eden, andSouth Lakeland.[7] In the event, the county was left out of the2009 structural changes to local government in England.[8]
In 2008, the county council rejected a proposal to introduce a directly electedmayor, opting instead for acabinet-style administration that resembled the status quo.[9] During the same year, an administration of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats collapsed, suffering not least from lacking a majority in the council. Thirty-nine Labour members and three Independents exactly equalled the total of thirty-two Conservatives and ten Liberal Democrats. A minority Labour administration then took over running the council until the June 2009 elections, when a net gain of one seat from the Independents led to the creation of a new Conservative and Labour coalition.[10]
In 2020 the council approvedWhitehaven coal mine for a third time. It will be the first deep coal mine in the UK in 30 years. The approval was widely criticised for its environmental damage andcarbon emissions. Westmorland and Lonsdale MPTim Farron described the coal mine as a "complete disaster for our children's future".[11][12][13]
In July 2021 theMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced that in April 2023, the county would be reorganised into twounitary authorities. Cumbria County Council was to be abolished and its functions transferred to the new authorities.[14] An eastern authority, known as Westmorland and Furness Council, now covers the former districts of Barrow-in-Furness, Eden, and South Lakeland,[15] and a new western authority, known as Cumberland Council, covers the former districts of Allerdale, Carlisle, and Copeland.[15]
The first elections to the authority were in 1973, and members were elected every four years for a four-year term of office, with elections being held all together on the "first past the post" system.
Since boundary changes in 2001 until the council's abolition, 84councillors were elected from 84 single-member electoral divisions.[16]
At theJune 2009 elections, the outcome was 38Conservatives members, 24Labour, 16Liberal Democrats and sixIndependents. A Labour-Conservative coalition was formed.
Following theMay 2013 elections the outcome was 35Labour members, 26Conservative, 16Liberal Democrats and 7Independents. A Labour-Lib Dem coalition was formed.[17] Following theMay 2017 elections, the outcome was 37Conservative, 26Labour, 16Liberal Democrats and 5Independents, resulting in a Labour-Lib Dem coalition with support from Independent members.[18]
The 2021 election was postponed on 10 April 2021.[19] In view of the council's abolition there was no election to the council in 2022.[20]
The political control of the council was as follows:[21]
| Party in control | Years |
|---|---|
| No overall control | 1973–1977 |
| Conservative | 1977–1981 |
| Labour | 1981–1985 |
| No overall control | 1985–1997 |
| Labour | 1997–2001 |
| No overall control | 2001–2023 |
The arms of Cumbria County Council were granted by theCollege of Arms on 10 October 1974. The arms represent the areas from which the new county council's area was put together; the shield's green border has Parnassus flowers representing Cumberland interspersed with roses; red for Lancashire (the Furness district) on white for Yorkshire (Sedbergh is from theWest Riding). The crest is a ram's head crest, found in the arms of both Westmorland County Council and Barrow County Borough, with Cumberland's Parnassus flowers again. The supporters are the legendary Dacre Bull (Cumberland) and a red dragon, redolent of Cumbria'sBrittonic origin (Westmorland). They stand on a base compartment representing Hadrian's Wall (in Cumberland), crossed with two red bars (from the Westmorland arms).[23] The county council's motto, "Ad Montes Oculos Levavi" isLatin, from Psalm 121; ("I shall lift up mine eyes unto the hills").[23] The county council's flag was aheraldic banner of its arms.[24][25]
