PROPOSALS to scrap Cumbria County Council and replace it with a combined authority are “gathering support” among council leaders, it has been claimed.

Mike Starkie, elected mayor of Copeland, wants to bring together the district authorities under an elected mayor of Cumbria in a bid to stop the county getting left in the “slow lane”. He said this week that the re-organisation of Local Government across the county along these lines is gaining “increasing traction” after alternative plans for a unitary authority hit the buffers.

At the end of last year, county council leader Stewart Young wrote to James Brokenshire MP, Secretary of State for Local Government, asking him to open negotiations on a unitary authority to replace the present two-tier system. But talks stalled after it emerged that all six district councils would have to be in unanimous agreement before this could happen.

The Government now looks set to issue a formal invitation to councils across Cumbria to thrash out their own proposals, potentially allowing the combined authority proposals to be brought to the table.Mr Starkie said: “We had the chance two years ago to sign up to a devolution deal which we wrongly in my view walked away from and decided to stand on the sidelines and watch more enlightened areas right across the North of England press ahead with deals that bring huge benefit to their communities.

“The leaders of the District Councils are all in agreement that local government needs to be reformed and are actively working up proposals to come up with a solution that we can all support, my long-held feeling is that the county council should be abolished is most certainly gathering support among colleagues.

“We need to go back to the Government and get the devolution deal back on the table. Cumbria has got to start thinking out of the box and we need a way forward that put the provision of services as the starting point and build a solution for delivery that protects the differing identities of our diverse communities and provides a cost effective solution for local government in Cumbria and ensure our County has a voice at the top table to prevent Cumbria being left in the slow lane.”

Under Mr Starkie’s proposals, health, social care and housing would be integrated and taken out of local authority control alongside ‘blue light services’ which would fall under the remit of the Police and Crime Commissioner. Services that are currently under the county council like planning, enforcement, economic regeneration would be devolved to the Districts and some of the responsibilities , such as highways, would be handled by the elected mayor of Cumbria.

Proposals for local government restructuring now have to be considered under the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 but any changes require unanimous consent.

Kevin Beaty, leader of Eden District Council, is also supportive of the combined authority model.

Alan Smith, leader of Allerdale council, has stopped short of endorsing the mayoral model but has spoken of the need for the six districts and the county to work together.