A MEETING to discuss whether or not Cumbria could be run by just one council will be held later this month.

Council officers have been working on proposals after Stewart Young, leader of Cumbria County Council, took the idea to a top-level meeting.

Councillor Young said: “During my time on the council there have been three attempts to get unitaries which I am very much in favour of.

“All of them have been unsuccessful.

“The first was under the Conservatives in the early 1990s and then John Prescott mooted the idea to sit under regional assemblies.

“During Tony Blair’s regime was the last time but it was rejected at the last moment.”

Mr Young said counties such as Durham, Cornwall and all the big cities have unitary authorities.

But he said the problem in Cumbria is that it was difficult to get all seven councils – Carlisle City, Eden, Allerdale, Copeland, South Lakeland, Barrow and Cumbria County Council – to agree.

He said: “In the last six months the government has expressed an interest in unitaries so we decided to look at the issue again.

“It makes financial sense to have unitary authorities and anything that we get in Cumbria from London is usually written with unitaries in mind.

“We have been doing some work in Cumbria on this and we will have a meeting later this month to get feedback.”

Yesterday, County Councillor James Airey from Ulverston, called on the Stuart Young to do more to help devolution.

He said: "We need to put people first and not our political fiefdoms. I would welcome any move forward for political leaders."

Allerdale Council leader Alan Smith, who chairs a committee made up of district council leaders in the county, has written to Mr Young saying that those authorities cannot speak as one in the unitary debate.

Mr Young said one idea was to have a north/south split.

He added: “The reason for doing some more work on it was to see if there was an appetite for it.

“But only government can make that decision. It would make sense for one council to do everything.”