Functions
Cumbria County Council is responsible for the more strategic local services of the county, including education (schools, both primary and secondary), libraries and youth services, social services, highway maintenance, waste disposal, emergency planning, consumer protection, and town and country planning for minerals matters, waste and for highways. This makes it a substantial employer.
The former Cumberland County Council's final major road scheme, an A66 bypass for Keswick, was prepared by Scott 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 operates 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 at Ambleside, Brampton, Grange-over-Sands, Kirkby Stephen, Millom and Wigton. [4]
The administrative offices are at Cumbria House in Botchergate, Carlisle, and formal meetings of the Council are held at the County Offices in Kendal. [5]
History
Control of the council has swung back and forth. In its first four years (1973-1977) there was no overall control, but in 1977 the Conservatives gained a majority. In 1981, this became a majority for Labour, and from 1985 there was again no one-party control. In 1997, Labour again took control, but they lost it in 2001. Since then, no party has had a majority.
A proposal for Cumbria to become a unitary authority was made in 2007, [6] and Cumbria went into consultation, with opposition coming from the district councils which would be abolished: Allerdale, Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden, and South Lakeland. [7] In the event, the county was left out of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. [8]
In 2008, the county council rejected a proposal to introduce a directly elected mayor, opting instead for a cabinet-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 approved Whitehaven 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 and carbon emissions. Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron described the coal mine as a "complete disaster for our children's future". [11] [12] [13]
In July 2021 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced that in April 2023, the county will be reorganised into two unitary authorities. Cumbria County Council is to be abolished and its functions transferred to the new authorities. [14] An eastern authority, to be known as Westmorland and Furness Council, will cover the current districts of Barrow-in-Furness, Eden, and South Lakeland, [15] and a new western authority, to be known as Cumberland Council, will cover the current districts of Allerdale, Carlisle, and Copeland. [15]
Elections
The first elections to the authority were in 1973, and members have been elected since then 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, 84 councillors have been elected from 84 single-member electoral divisions. [16]
At the June 2009 elections, the outcome was 38 Conservatives members, 24 Labour, 16 Liberal Democrats and six Independents. A Labour-Conservative coalition was formed.
Following the May 2013 elections the outcome was 35 Labour members, 26 Conservative, 16 Liberal Democrats and 7 Independents. A Labour-Lib Dem coalition was formed. [17] Following the May 2017 elections, the outcome was 37 Conservative, 26 Labour, 16 Liberal Democrats and 5 Independents, 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 will be no election to the existing council in 2022. [20]
Cumbria is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's county town is Carlisle, in the north of the county. The only other major urban area is Barrow-in-Furness on the south-western tip of the county.
Aberdeen City Council represents the Aberdeen City council area of Scotland.
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England that had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. It is bordered by the historic counties of Northumberland to the northeast, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the southeast, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish counties of Dumfriesshire and Roxburghshire to the north. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria.
The Borough of Copeland is a local government district and borough in western Cumbria, England. Its council is based in Whitehaven. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Borough of Whitehaven, Ennerdale Rural District and Millom Rural District. The population of the Non-Metropolitan district was 69,318 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 70,603 at the 2011 Census.
The City of Carlisle is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Brampton and Longtown, as well as outlying villages including Dalston, Scotby and Wetheral. In 2011 the district had a population of 107,524, and an area of 1,039.97 square kilometres (402 sq mi).
Westmorland and Lonsdale is a constituency in the south of Cumbria, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Tim Farron, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats (2015–2017).
Local elections took place in some parts of the UK on 7 June 2001. Elections took place for all of the English shire counties, some English unitary authorities and all of the Northern Ireland districts. The elections were delayed from the usual date of the first Thursday in May due to the 2001 UK foot and mouth crisis and were held on the same day as the general election.
North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) is the county council governing the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire in England. The council currently consists of 72 councillors. The council is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The headquarters of the council is county hall in Northallerton.
An election to Cumbria County Council took place on 2 May 2013 as part of the 2009 United Kingdom local elections. All 84 councillors were elected from various electoral divisions, which returned one or two county councillors each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. They coincided with an election for the European Parliament. All 84 seats in the Council were up for election, and a total of 301 candidates stood. The total number of people registered to vote was 392,931. Prior to the election local Conservatives were leading a coalition with the Liberal Democrats with the Labour party as the council's official opposition.
Cumberland County Council was the county council of Cumberland in the North West of England, an elected local government body responsible for most local services in the county. It was established in 1889 as a result of the Local Government Act 1888. Carlisle was initially within its area but became a separate county borough in 1914. In 1974, both authorities were merged along with parts of others into the new Cumbria County Council.
This page documents political party strengths in the United Kingdom's principal local authorities. The last major change to council compositions was the 6 May 2021 local elections, but changes in party representation arise frequently due to resignations, deaths, by-elections, co-options and changes of affiliation.
City of York Council is the municipal governing body of the City of York, a unitary authority in Yorkshire, England. It is composed of 47 councillors, one, two, or three for each of the 21 electoral wards of York. It is responsible for all local government services in the City of York, except for services provided by York's town and parish councils.
The 2010 Carlisle City Council election took place on 6 May 2010 to elect members of Carlisle District Council in Cumbria, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.
The 2011 Carlisle City Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Carlisle District Council in Cumbria, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.
The 2012 Carlisle City Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Carlisle District Council in Cumbria, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.
There was a by-election in the British parliamentary constituency of Copeland on 23 February 2017, following the resignation of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Jamie Reed. Conservative candidate Trudy Harrison gained the seat from Labour, the first gain for a governing party in a by-election since 1982.
Local elections in England and Wales were held on 6 May 2021 for more than 145 English local councils for around 5,000 seats, thirteen directly elected mayors in England, and 39 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales. There were also elections to the Scottish Parliament, Senedd and London Assembly, the last in conjunction with the London mayoral election.
Structural changes to local government in England have taken place between 2019 and 2021, and will potentially continue in 2023. Ceremonial counties will not see any changes to their external boundaries, but in some cases their subdivisions will be altered.
Cumberland is a proposed unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It is proposed that the council area will consist of the area covered by the districts of Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland.
